DCt  CCM  LIBRARV 

CALIFORNIA  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 


SUPERSTITION 
IN    MEDICINE 


SUPERSTITION 
IN   MEDICINE 


BY 


PROF.    DR.    HUGO    MAGNUS 


AUTHORIZED    TRANSLATION    FROM 
THE    GERMAN,     EDITED     BY 

DR.    JULIUS    L.    SALINGER 

Late  Assistant  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine,  Jefferson  Medical 
College;  Physician  to  the  Philadelphia  General  Hospital,  etc. 


FUNK     &    WAGNALLS    COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

1905 


COPYRIGHT,   1905,   BY 

FUNK   &   WAGNALLS   COMPANY 

[Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America'] 

Published,   April,  1905 


PREFACE 


THE  history  of  medicine  is  closely  interlinked 
with  the  development  of  theology.  The  errors 
of  one  are  for  the  most  part  reflected  in  the  mis- 
takes of  the  other.  No  matter  how  obscure  and 
dark  the  origin  of  either,  whether  derived  from 
ignorance  and  superstition  or  not,  the  ultimate 
achievement  alone  must  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion. We  do  not  reject  chemistry  because  it 
originated  in  alchemy,  we  do  not  disregard  as- 
tronomy because  its  roots  are  entwined  with  the 
teachings  of  astrology,  and  so  in  theology  and 
medicine  we  look  to  the  final  issue.  The  state- 
ments set  forth  in  this  book  should  not  be  con- 
strued as  reflecting  the  development  of  theology 
or  medicine  at  the  time,  but  as  the  belief  of  the 
people  existing  in  these  periods.  Philosophy 
may  have  been  pure,  but  if  the  mind  of  man  was 
faulty  the  responsibility  must  not  be  laid  at  the 
door  of  science.  It  is  the  function  of  the  histo- 
rian truthfully  to  depict  the  thought  and  spirit 
of  the  time  of  which  he  writes.  This  has  been 
attempted  in  the  present  work.  It  is  not  a  crit- 
icism of  a  system,  but  a  criticism  of  man. 


79 


PREFACE 


There  can  be  no  doubt  that  absurd  superstitions 
are  still  existent  for  which  the  twentieth  century 
will  be  severely  criticized  in  time  to  come. 
Thus  the  words  of  our  martyred  President  may 
well  be  used  as  a  motto  for  this  book:  u  With 
malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all." 

The  last  chapter  of  this  book  has  been  added 
by  the  translator,  as  it  seemed  necessary  for  the 
full  discussion  of  the  subject. 

JULIUS  L.  SALINGER. 
PHILADELPHIA,  Pa. 


CONTENTS 


I.  WHAT  is  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION?         1 
II.  THEISM  IN  ITS  EELATION  TO  MEDI- 
CINE AND  IN  ITS  STRUGGLE  WITH 
THE  PHYSICO-MECHANICAL  THEORY 
OF  LIFE 7 

III.  EELIGION  THE  SUPPORT  OF  MEDICAL 

SUPERSTITION 23 

IV.  THE    INFLUENCE    OF     PHILOSOPHY 

UPON  THE  FORM  AND  ORIGIN   OF 
MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION     ....     89 
V.  THE    EELATIONS    OF    NATURAL 

SCIENCE  TO  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION  128 
VI.  INFLUENCE     EXERTED     UPON     THE 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  SUPERSTITION  BY 

MEDICINE  ITSELF 185 

VII.  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION  AND  INSAN- 
ITY      191 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  .  .201 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

CIRCLE  OF   PETOSIRIS 141 

CIRCLE   OF   PETOSIRIS 143 

THE   TABLE   OF   DEMOCRITUS 145 

THE    RELATION    OF    THE     PARTS    OF    THE 
HUMAN    BODY    TO     THE  SIGNS  OF   THE 

ZODIAC 159 

VENESECTION   IN   ITS  ASTRONOMICAL    CON- 
NECTION 175 


WHAT  IS  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION? 

FAITH  and  superstition  are  twin  brothers. 
Altho  the  former  leads  humanity  to  its  sublim- 
est  ideals  and  the  latter  only  presents  us  with  a 
caricature  of  human  knowledge,  both  are  chil- 
dren of  the  same  family.  Both  originate  in  a 
sense  of  the  inadequacy  of  human  science  in 
regard  to  natural  phenomena.  The  fact  that  the 
most  important  processes  of  organic  life  can  not 
be  traced  to  their  ultimate  origin,  but  that  their 
investigation  will  soon  lead  to  a  point  of  irre- 
sistible opposition  to  further  analysis,  has  always 
called  forth  a  feeling  of  impotency  and  depend- 
ence in  the  human  mind.  This  consciousness  of 
being  dependent  upon  factors  which  are  entirely 
beyond  human  understanding  has  thus  given 
rise  to  the  metaphysical  need  of  reflecting  upon 
these  mysterious  factors,  and  bringing  them  with- 
in reach  of  human  comprehension.  Humanity, 
in  attempting  to  satisfy  such  a  metaphysical 
requirement  from  an  ethical  standpoint,  created 
faith,  which  subsequently  found  expression  in 

1 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

the  various  forms  of  religion.  It  is  not  within 
the  scope  of  this  essay  to  consider  how  far  Divine 
revelations  have  been  vouchsafed  on  this  sub- 
ject. Superstition  undoubtedly  entered  the 
scene  when,  simultaneously  with  these,  endeavors 
were  made  to  consider  and  to  explain  physical 
processes  from  the  standpoint  of  such  meta- 
physical requirements.  It  is  true  that  this  did 
not,  at  first,  lead  to  a  marked  contrast  between 
faith  and  superstition;  for  a  period  existed  in 
which  faith  and  superstition — i.e.,  the  meta- 
physical consideration  of  ethical  values  and  the 
metaphysical  consideration  of  the  entire  phenom- 
ena of  life — were  not  ouly^  equivalent,  but  even 
merged  into  one  conception.  This  occurred  in 
an  age  in  which  mankind  considered  all  terres- 
trial processes,  whether  they  were  of  a  psychical 
or  of  a  material  nature,  as  immediately  caused 
by  the  steady  interference  of  supernatural  pow- 
ers— a  period  during  which  the  deity  was  held 
responsible  for  all  terrestrial  phenomena.  Dur- 
ing this  period  faith  became  superstition,  and 
superstition,  faith.  A  separation  did  not  take 
place  until  some  especially  enlightened  minds 
began  to  evolve  the  idea  that  it  would  be  more 
reasonable  to  explain  natural  phenomena — tem- 
poral becoming,  being,  and  passing  away — by 
natural  rather  than  by  supernatural  causes. 

2 


WHAT  IS   MEDICAL   STJPEESTITION  t 

The  reaction  against  this  better  interpretation, 
the  tenacious  adherence  to  the  original  associ- 
ation of  terrestrial  manifestations  with  meta- 
physical factors,  created  the  superstition  of  the 
natural  sciences.  The  birth  of  superstition  in 
the  Greek  world  must  be  placed  about  the  seventh 
century,  B.C.,  the  period  during  which  Thales 
of  Miletus  came  forward  with  his  endeavor  to 
explain  natural  processes  in  a  natural  manner. 
This  attempt  of  the  Milesian  is  the  initiation  of 
a  rational  scientific  conception  of  natural  mani- 
festations, and  the  ancient  theistic  consideration 
of  nature  became  superstition  only  in  opposition 
to  such  a  view.  It  follows,  then,  that  what  holds 
good  with  regard  to  the  interpretation  of  natural 
manifestations  in  general  holds  good  in  medicine 
especially.  Here,  also,  superstition  came  into 
question  only  when,  besides  the  original  theistic 
conception  of  the  functions  of  the  body  and  be- 
sides the  metaphysical  treatment  of  the  sick,  a 
valuation  of  the  normal  as  well  as  of  the  morbid 
phenomena  of  the  human  organism  came  into 
vogue  which  took  into  account  terrestrial  causes. 
Not  until  this  stage  was  reached  did  theism  and 
theurgy  lose  their  title  and  become  superstition; 
until  then  they  could  claim  fullest  acceptance  in 
medicine  as  thoroughly  logical  consequences  of 
the  prevailing  theory  of  life.  This  took  place, 

3 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

so  far  as  Greek  medicine  was  concerned,  at  about 
the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  B.C.  The  Corpus 
Hippocraticum  already  shows  us  Greek  medi- 
cine as  being  purified  from  all  theistic  sophisti- 
cations and  only  reckoning  with  natural  causes. 
When  this  separation  must  have  taken  place  for 
pre-Greek,  Indian,  Assyrian,  and  Egyptian  cul- 
ture can  not  be  at  present  determined  with  cer- 
tainty. For  the  Egyptian  and  Babylouico- 
Assyrian  manuscripts,  so  far  known,  show  an 
intimate  admixture  of  true  observation  of  na- 
ture with  theistic  speculations — i.e.,  a  treatment 
of  medicine  which,  altho  it  took  account  of 
physico-natural  manifestations,  was  still  deeply 
tinctured  with  superstition. 

According  to  what  we  have  stated,  medical 
superstition  might  be  defined  as  follows:  u  Be- 
lief that  the  normal  as  well  as  the  pathological 
manifestations  of  organic  life  may  be  explained 
and  eventually  treated,  without  consideration 
of  their  physical  nature,  by  means  of  supernat- 
ural agencies. ' ' 

Medical  superstition  varies  according  to  the 
kind  and  the  origin  of  these  supernatural  causes, 
and  therefore  appears  in  the  greatest  variety 
of  forms.  If  these  causes  were  looked  for  in 
celestial  regions,  medical  superstition  became 
vested  with  the  religious  garb,  and  its  source  was 

4 


WHAT   IS   MEDICAL  SUPEESTITION  ? 

in  the  religious  cult;  but  if  the  belief  prevailed 
that  God  shared  the  domination  of  the  world 
with  other  mysterious  elements,  such  as  were 
embodied  in  different  forms  in  accordance  with 
the  various  philosophical  systems,  medical  su- 
perstition bore  a  philosophical  and  mystical 
stamp  whose  origin  is  revealed  in  the  history  of 
philosophy.  But  if  certain  mysterious  powers 
hidden  in  the  womb  of  nature  or  active  above 
the  earth  were  considered  to  influence  human 
life,  medical  superstition  assumed  a  physical 
character.  However,  it  frequently  followed  that 
the  above  three  factors  acted  simultaneously  or 
in  varying  combinations,  or  certain  other  ele- 
ments which  were  inherent  in  human  nature 
cooperated.  For  this  reason  it  is  sometimes  not 
quite  easy  to  decide  as  to  the  source  from  which 
this  or  that  form  of  medical  superstition  princi- 
pally derived  its  persistent  currency.  But,  nev- 
ertheless, it  is  our  intention  to  divide  our  subject 
in  accordance  with  the  sources  from  which  the 
several  forms  of  medical  superstition  spring,  as 
it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  obtain  a  satisfac- 
tory view  of  the  extensive  material  without  first 
attempting  a  systematic  arrangement  of  the  data 
at  hand. 

But  before   attempting  to   inquire  why  the 
purest  and  most  valuable  fountains  of  all  human 

5 


knowledge — religion,  philosophy,  and  natural 
science — have  at  the  same  time  become  sources 
of  medical  superstition,  it  will  be  advisable  to 
explain  the  character  which  medical  science 
had  assumed  under  the  exclusive  domination  of 
theism,  and  how  conditions  shaped  themselves 
when  physico-mechanical  philosophy  appeared 
and  began  to  do  battle  with  the  theistic  concep- 
tion of  life.  These  conditions  played  such  a 
special  part  in  the  development  of  medico-phys- 
ical superstition  that  it  becomes  necessary  first 
to  examine  their  power  and  tendency  before  at- 
tempting to  contemplate  medical  superstition 
proper. 


II 


THEISM  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  MEDICINE  AND 
IN  ITS  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  PHYSICO- 
MECHANICAL  THEORY  OF  LIFE 

As  WE  explained  in  Chapter  I.,  the  develop- 
ment of  all  peoples  has  passed  through  a  period 
during  which  medico-physical  knowledge  found 
expression  exclusively  in  the  teachings  of  relig- 
ion. By  theism  we  mean  the  system  which  en- 
deavors to  explain  natural  phenomena  by  super- 
natural causes.  However,  this  view  of  nature, 
with  its  tinge  of  religion,  did  not  as  yet  show 
any  trace  of  superstition.  It  was  rather  the  only 
justifiable  conception  of  nature  and  thoroughly 
in  keeping  with  the  power  of  comprehension  of 
man,  until  it  began  to  dawn  upon  the  mind  that 
natural  phenomena  might  be  due  to  natural 
causes.  This  was  the  period  of  which  we  stated, 
in  the  beginning  of  this  investigation,  that  faith 
became  superstition  and  superstition  became 
faith.  It  was  during  this  time  that  the  powers 
above  were  held  accountable  for  all  bodily  ail- 
ments of  mankind.  It  was  their  task  most  care- 
fully to  observe  the  functional  processes  of  the 

7 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

human  body  in  all  its  phases,  and  to  protect 
their  undisturbed  continuance.  But  as  the  in- 
habitants of  heaven,  like  the  inhabitants  of  the 
earth,  were  subject  to  whims,  it  happened  very 
often,  unfortunately,  that  they  attended  to  their 
task  of  protecting  the  undisturbed  development 
of  the  vegetative  as  well  as  the  animal  functions 
of  the  body  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  manner, 
sometimes,  in  fact,  even  purposely  neglecting  it. 
Thus  disturbances  occurred  in  the  regular  course 
of  organic  life,  and  this  brought  diseases  into  the 
world.  If,  therefore,  the  gods  were  directly 
responsible  for  the  appearance  of  disease,  it  was 
palpably  their  duty  to  effect  its  elimination. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  pathology  and  therapy 
were  exclusively  attended  to  by  the  gods.  But 
in  what  light  they  regarded  these  medical  duties 
of  theirs,  and  how  they  performed  them,  were 
matters  subject  to  very  varying  considerations, 
as  expounded  by  the  different  religions  of  an- 
tiquity. The  Babylonian  considered  the  great 
god  Marduk  the  expeller  of  all  maladies,  whereas 
TJrugal,  Namtor,  and  Nergal  were  recognized 
gods  of  pestilence. 

Similar  ideas  prevailed  among  the  Egyptians. 
The  cat-headed  goddess  Bubastis  was  believed 
to  deal  out  to  mothers  the  blessings  of  fertility. 
Ibis  showed  an  especial  interest  in  those  human 

8 


MEDICINE   AKD   THEISM 


beings  who  were  troubled  with  disturbances  of 
digestion,  and  this  interest  found  benevolent 
expression  in  the  invention  of  the  clyster. 

With  the  Greeks  also  the  gods  rendered  ser- 
vices to  diseased  humanity.  Thus  Apollo  in- 
vented the  art  of  healing,  and  if  his  time  per- 
mitted he  occasionally  lent  a  hand  when  diffi- 
culties beset  the  entrance  into  this  world  of  a 
young  mortal.  But,  as  a  rule,  it  was  the  duty 
of  Aphrodite  to  attend  to  such  cases,  just  as,  in 
fact,  she  was  responsible  for  everything  that  re- 
ferred to  love,  no  matter  whether  it  was  a  ques- 
tion of  the  esthetic  or  the  pathological  part  of 
that  passion.  Athene  was  the  specialist  in 
ophthalmology,  and  it  seems  that  she  did  not  fare 
badly  with  this  occupation.  A  temple  was  dedi- 
cated to  her  by  Lycurgus,  whom,  as  it  appears, 
she  healed  of  a  sympathetic  affection  of  the  eyes; 
and,  besides,  she  won  by  her  ophthalmological 
activity  various  ornamental  epithets,  such,  for 
instance,  as  ogtiaX/iinf,  etc. 

It  was  quite  natural,  in  view  of  the  exclusively 
theistic  conception  which  in  those  times  preoc- 
cupied the  human  mind,  that  the  priests  were 
the  sole  possessors  of  physico-medical  knowledge; 
and  naturally  so.  For  when  we  consider  the 
theory  of  life  that  prevailed  at  that  period,  who 
could  have  been  better  qualified  to  give  iuforma- 

9 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

t  iou  to  men  regarding  their  own  body  as  well  as 
regarding  nature  in  general,  than  the  priest,  the 
mortal  representative  of  immortal  gods  ?  And 
who  better  qualified  than  the  priest  to  invoke  the 
aid  of  the  heavenly  powers  in  all  bodily  ail- 
ments! Thus  it  was  the  unavoidable  conse- 
quence of  the  theistic  theory  of  life  that  the 
priest  was  the  physician  as  well  as  the  represen- 
tative of  physical  knowledge  and  also  the  helper 
and  adviser  in  all  mundane  exigencies.  Whether 
bodily  or  psychic  troubles  afflicted  individuals, 
whether  an  entire  population  groaned  under 
heavy  chastisements  like  pestilence,  aid  and  de- 
liverance were  always  sought  in  the  sanctuary  of 
the  gods,  from  the  infallible  priest.  And  the 
priests  were  always  equal  to  the  occasion;  they 
have  always,  in  a  masterly  manner,  known  the  art 
of  satisfying  the  medico-physical  needs  of  their 
suppliants.  For  the  religions  of  all  civilized  peo- 
ples— and  Christianity  by  no  means  occupies  an 
exceptional  position  in  this  respect — have  always 
endeavored  most  strenuously  to  keep  physical  as 
well  as  medical  thought  in  strictest  dependence 
upon  their  doctrines  and  dogmas.  To  attain 
this  end  various  ceremonies,  customs,  and  dog- 
mas were  relied  upon  to  keep  the  priests  in  a 
position  to  secure  the  assistance  of  the  gods  for 
humanity  harassed  by  pain  and  affliction.  These 

10 


MEDICINE   AND   THEISM 


sacred  observances  were  strange,  and  varied  with 
the  various  religious  systems.  According  to  the 
primeval  cult  of  Zoroaster,  all  evils,  conse- 
quently also  all  diseases,  were  derived  from  the 
principle  of  darkness  which  was  embodied  in  the 
person  of  Ahriman,  and  only  the  sacerdotal  caste 
of  the  magicians  who  sprung  from  a  special 
Median  tribe  was  able  to  heal  them.  But  it  was 
by  no  means  easy  to  become  a  member  of  this 
caste  and  to  acquire  the  magic  powers  pertain- 
ing to  it  alone.  It  was  necessary  before  gaining 
mastery  over  the  powers  of  nature  to  become  in- 
itiated into  the  mysteries  of  Mitra.  However, 
after  priestly  consecration  had  once  been  be- 
stowed, the  individual  thus  honored  bore  the 
proud  title  "  Conqueror  of  Evil,"  and  was  able 
to  practise  medicine.  As  the  most  essential  con- 
stituent of  every  medical  treatment,  the  divine 
word  was  applied  in  the  form  of  mysterious  exor- 
cisms, sacred  hymns,  and  certain  words  which 
were  considered  specially  curative  in  effect,  par- 
ticularly the  word  l '  Ormuzd, ' '  the  name  of  the 
highest  god,  in  whose  all-embracing  power  of 
healing  great  confidence  was  placed. 

The  Sumerians,  the  precursors  of  Babylonico- 
Assyrian  culture,  ascribed  a  considerable  and 
important  role  to  dreams.  They  were  considered 
to  bring  direct  medical  advice  from  the  gods, 

11 


and  it  became  the  office  of  the  sacerdotal  physi- 
cian to  interpret  the  dream  in  such  a  way  as  to 
alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  dreamer. 

The  ancient  Greek  culture  also  conceded  a 
conspicuous  medical  significance  to  dreams,  and 
even  arranged  a  system  of  its  own,  that  of  the 
temple  sleep,  in  order  always  to  obtain  prophesy- 
ing dreams  from  the  gods.  The  patient,  after 
the  obligatory  offering,  was  required  to  remain 
a  night  in  the  temple,  and  his  dream  during  this 
night  was  the  medical  advice  of  the  divinity  in 
its  most  direct  form.  But  only  the  priest  was 
able  to  interpret  a  dream  obtained  in  such  a 
manner,  and  to  extract  medical  efficacy  from  it. 
But  as  it  occasionally  happened  that  a  too  pro- 
saic and  phlegmatic  patient  did  not  dream  at  all, 
the  priest  was  benevolent  enough  to  intercede. 
He  was  always  promptly  favored  by  the  gods 
with  a  suggestive  dream. 

The  medical  function  of  the  priests  had  reached 
a  peculiar  development  during  the  first  centuries 
of  Eome.  This  was  manifest  especially  in  the 
time  of  public  calamities,  such  as  pestilence, 
war,  etc.  When  such  events  reached  dimen- 
sions which  threatened  the  existence  of  the  re- 
public, attempts  were  made  to  'gain  the  favor  of 
the  gods  by  most  curious  ceremonies.  The  celes- 
tials were  simply  invited  to  take  part  in  an  opu- 

12 


MEDICINE   AND   THEISM 


lent  banquet.  The  first  divine  feast  of  such  a 
character  was  celebrated  in  Eome  in  the  sixth 
century,  B.C.,  on  account  of  a  great  epidemic. 
Apollo,  Latona,  Diana,  Hercules,  Mercury,  and 
Neptune  were  most  ceremoniously  invited  to 
take  part  in  a  religious  banquet  which  lasted  for 
eight  days.  The  images  of  the  gods  were  placed 
upon  magnificently  cushioned  couches,  and  the 
tables  were  loaded  with  dainties.  Not  only  the 
gods,  but  the  entire  population,  were  invited ; 
every  one  kept  open  house,  and  whoever  wished 
to  do  so  could  feast  at  the  richly  prepared  boards 
of  the  wealthy.  Even  the  pronounced  enemies 
of  the  house  were  allowed  to  enter  and  to  enjoy 
the  dainties  without  fear  of  hostile  remarks  ;  in- 
deed, it  was  deemed  advisable  in  the  interests  of 
public  hygiene  to  unchain  the  prisoners  and  to 
liberate  them.  But  if  the  gods,  in  spite  of  the 
most  opulent  entertainments,  did  not  have  any 
consideration,  and  if  pestilence,  military  dis- 
aster, failure  of  crops,  or  whatever  was  the  im- 
mediate cause  of  popular  anxiety,  continued  to 
persist  with  unabated  fury,  endeavors  were  made 
by  theatrical  performances  to  provide  as  much 
as  possible  for  the  amusement  of  the  gods.  Such 
plays,  at  first,  consisted  only  in  graceful  dances, 
with  flute  accompaniments,  and  from  these  sim- 
ple beginnings,  according  to  Livy,  Book  7, 

13 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

Chapter  II.,  the  drama  is  said  to  have  developed 
all  those  variations  which  characterized  the 
scenic  art  of  antiquity.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  even  the  stage  of  modern  times  is  of  religio- 
sanitary  origin — a  peculiar  fact  which  modern 
patrons  of  the  theater  scarcely  ever  dream  of. 

An  attempt  was  eventually  made  to  increase 
the  delight  of  the  gods  in  such  amusements  by  a 
number  of  novel  devices.  For  instance,  it  was 
stipulated  that  the  performances  instituted  to 
ward  off  the  invasion  of  Hannibal  were  to  cost 
333, 333£  copper  asses.  But  if,  nevertheless,  the 
gods  were  not  sufficiently  propitiated  by  ban- 
quets, dances,  and  playing  of  the  flute,  and  if  they 
could  not  be  prevailed  upon  by  such  pastimes  to 
remove  the  pestilence  or  other  calamity,  a  dicta- 
tor was  named  who,  if  possible,  on  September 
13th,  drove  a  nail  into  the  temple  of  Jupiter  to 
appease  divine  indignation.  It  appears  that 
this  was  a  primeval  custom  of  the  Etruscans  ;  at 
least,  it  is  reported  by  the  Roman  author,  Cin- 
cius,  that  such  nails  could  be  seen  in  the  temple 
of  the  Etruscan  goddess  Nortia.  This  nail  ther- 
apy was  resorted  to  by  the  Romans,  for  instance, 
during  the  terrible  plague  which  raged  in  the 
fifth  century,  B.C.,  and  of  which  the  celebrated 
Furius  Camillus  died. 

"Wonderful  as  all  the  described  procedures 

14 


MEDICINE   AND   THEISM 


seem  to  us,  and  closely  as  they  may  conform  to 
the  modern  conception  of  superstition,  at  the 
time  they  originated  they  were  considered  as 
quite  removed  from  that  superstition  with  which 
we  so  closely  identify  them  to-day.  For  the 
period  which  saw  the  above  events  was  an  era  of 
exclusive  theism,  and  for  that  reason  divine 
sleep,  divine  feasts,  the  sacred  performances,  and 
all  the  other  peculiar  means  which  were  em- 
ployed to  secure  medical  aid  of  the  gods,  were 
well-established  features  of  religious  worship. 
The  stigma  of  superstition  was  not  set  upon  them 
as  yet.  And  this  state  of  things  naturally  per- 
sisted so  long  as  the  theistic  theory  of  life  stood 
unchallenged. 

This  absolute  reign  of  theistic  theory  dominat- 
ing human  life  through  the  above -described 
therapeutic  ideas  was  followed  by  an  epoch  in 
which  theism  was  forced  to  divide  its  authority 
with  a  powerful  rival — namely,  the  physico- 
mechanical  theory  of  life.  The  struggle  between 
both  these  systems  was  ushered  in,  for  the  Hel- 
lenic as  well  as  for  the  Occidental  world  of  civil- 
ization, by  the  appearance  of  Ionian  philosophy. 
Even  in  our  own  day  this  struggle  is  still  going 
on  in  many  minds.  This  much,  at  least,  is 
certain :  that  superstition  has  always  been 
especially  active  in  medicine  in  areas  of  civil- 

15 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

izatiou  where  the  theistic  idea  has  gained  the 
ascendency. 

The  deadly  struggle  between  theistic  and 
physico-mechanical  theories  of  life  in  the  realm 
of  medicine  has  found  no  place  in  the  experience 
of  Hellenic  and  Roman  antiquity.  The  change  in 
opinion  was  rather  wrought  by  a  gradual  reces- 
sion from  the  idea  that  the  gods  interfered  with 
the  proper  course  of  man's  bodily  functions. 
This  conviction  resulted  from  a  progressive 
growth  of  his  physico-mechanical  knowledge, 
and  became  established  at  least  as  far  as  the 
thoughts  and  the  opinions  of  the  physicians  were 
concerned.  That  the  other  classes,  in  particular 
the  representatives  of  religion,  did  not  so  peace- 
ably acquiesce  in  this  mechanical  conception  of 
life  we  shall  soon  explain  in  Chapter  III.  It  was 
different,  however,  with  the  art  of  healing  itself. 
Even  the  Corpus  Hippocraticum  reveals  to  us 
a  medicine  which  had  been  purified  from  all 
theistic  admixtures,  and  from  the  publication 
of  this  work  (i.e.,  from  about  the  fifth  century, 
B.C.,  up  to  the  overthrow  of  the  ancient  period — 
i.e., until  about  the  fifth  or  sixth  century,  A.D.  ) 
no  further  attempt  to  refer  the  cause  of  disease 
and  the  treatment  of  disease  to  the  gods  of  the 
ancient  heavens  is  noticed  in  medical  works. 
On  the  contrary,  that  great  efforts  were  made  to 

16 


MEDICINE   AND   THEISM 


look  for  the  nature  of  disease  in  the  mechanical 
conditions  of  the  body  is  proven  by  a  number  of 
the  most  various  medical  doctrines.  The  exten- 
sive work  of  Galen,  that  antique  canon  of  med- 
icine, which  dates  back  to  the  second  century, 
A.D.,  disavows  all  theism  and  all  theurgy,  and 
relies  solely  upon  physico-mechanical  methods: 
observation,  experiment,  dissection.  Antique 
religion  and  antique  medicine  had  effected  a 
reconciliation — a  reconciliation,  however,  in 
which  neither  party  was  to  acknowledge  a  com- 
plete defeat ;  but  the  result  was  an  amicable  set- 
tlement, in  which  their  just  dues  were  given  both 
to  the  theistic  and  to  the  physico-mechanical 
theories  of  life.  The  point  of  agreement  upon 
which  this  settlement,  or,  to  express  it  better, 
compromise,  was  made  was  teleology. 

By  teleology  we  understand  the  conception 
that  all  earthly  existence  is  created  by  a  supreme 
power  in  accordance  with  a  preconceived  plan, 
and  that,  accordingly,  all  organic  life,  in  form 
and  action,  is  most  perfectly  adapted  to  the  task 
prescribed  for  it  by  this  power.  This  concep- 
tion was  absolutely  indispensable  to  antique 
medicine  ;  for  it  allowed  the  adherents  of  the 
theistic  theory  without  hesitation  to  consider 
man  as  a  product  of  the  creator,  which  was  dis- 
tinguished in  all  directions  and  which  bore  wit- 

17 


SUPEESTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

ness  of  the  wisdom  of  God,  a  position  which  pre- 
cluded the  assumption,  which  was  impossible 
according  to  the  antecedent  medical  observa- 
tions, that  disease  came  from  God.  For  it 
seemed  quite  plausible,  according  to  the  physico- 
mechanical  theory  of  life,  that  disease  might  be 
a  product  of  a  number  of  adverse,  purely  earthly 
conditions,  an  assumption  not  involving  the 
slightest  doubt  of  the  wisdom  and  creative  power 
of  the  gods.  This  teleological  doctrine,  which 
runs  like  a  red  thread  through  all  ancient  phi- 
losophy, becomes  conspiculously  prominent  in 
Galen.  Every  section  of  the  powerful  work  of 
Galen — anatomy,  as  well  as  physiology,  patholo- 
gy, and  therapy — bear  witness  to  the  most  confi- 
dent teleological  conception,  a  conception  which 
in  the  end  culminates  in  the  verdict  ( ' '  Use  of  the 
Parts,"  Book  11,  Chapter  XIV.):  "The  creator 
of  nature  has  disclosed  his  benevolence  by  wise 
care  for  all  his  creatures,  in  that  he  has  bestowed 
upon  each  one  what  is  truly  of  service  to  it. ' ' 

This  teleological  idea  of  all  earthly  becoming, 
being,  and  passing  away  was  henceforth  destined 
to  be  a  permanent  factor  in  human  speculation. 
Christianity  received  it  as  a  possession  from 
antique  civilization,  and  only  the  philosophy  and 
natural  science  of  modern  times  have  been  able 
to  threaten  its  permanence.  Biology,  as  of 

18 


MEDICINE   AND   THEISM 


modern  creation,  teaches  us  that  all  natural 
phenomena  owe  their  existence  to  natural  causes, 
that  the  natural  world  is  subject  to  natural  laws. 
And,  accordingly,  teleology,  as  we  encounter  it 
in  the  works  of  the  heathen  Galen  and  in  the 
writings  of  the  Christian  Church  Fathers,  has 
turned  out  to  be  superstition,  which,  however, 
must  by  no  means  be  classed  with  the  vagaries 
of  mere  medico-physical  superstition.  In  coming 
to  this  decision,  however,  we  must  beware  of  rash 
generalization.  In  this  connection  we  refer  only 
to  that  kind  of  teleology  which  dominated  the 
world  previous  to  the  teachings  of  Descartes  and 
Spinoza,  and  previous  to  the  advent  of  modern 
natural  science,  with  its  biological  methods. 
Whether,  after  all,  a  theory  of  life  might  be  pos- 
sible which,  while  avoiding  the  reproach  of  su- 
perstition, might  be  traced  to  teleological  pre- 
possessions, is  a  question  we  can  not  here  discuss. 
It  is  admittedly  true  that  the  deeper  we  pene- 
trate into  the  secrets  of  nature  the  more  ener- 
getically the  existence  of  a  marvelous,  intelligent 
will  manifests  itself  as  permeating  all  domains 
of  nature.  However,  if  this  fact  is  not  denied  on 
principle,  as  modern  materialism  denies  it,  and 
proper  allowance  is  made  for  it,  a  rehabilitation 
of  teleology  as  a  necessary  factor  of  our  theory 
of  life  would  be  the  logical  consequence.  Of 

19 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

course,  this  teleology  would  bear  a  stamp  entirely 
different  from  that  of  antiquity  and  of  the  middle 
ages,  which  is  recognized  to  be  superstition.  It 
should  not  pretend  to  include  the  consideration 
of  the  entire  organic  world,  but  confine  its  con- 
clusions to  the  last  links  in  the  chain  of  experi- 
ence and  argument  which  science  has  forged 
from  natural  phenomena.  Now  this  could  be 
accomplished,  in  our  opinion,  even  without  ap- 
prehension of  interfering  with  the  indispensable 
requirements  of  modern  naturalists  :  "The  ter- 
restrial world  in  its  forms  and  processes  is  gov- 
erned solely  by  terrestrial  laws."  What  the 
appearance  of  such  a  teleology  should  be  is  ex- 
pressed by  William  Hartpole  Lecky  in  the  fol- 
lowing : 

1 '  This  conception,  which  exhibits  the  universe 
rather  as  an  organism  than  a  mechanism,  and 
regards  the  complexities  and  adaptations  it  dis- 
plays rather  as  the  results  of  gradual  develop- 
ment from  within  than  of  an  interference  from 
without,  is  so  novel,  and  at  first  sight  so  startling, 
that  many  are  now  shrinking  from  it  in  alarm, 
under  the  impression  that  it  destroys  the  argu- 
ment from  design,  and  almost  amounts  to  the 
negation  of  a  Supreme  Intelligence.  But  there 
can,  I  think,  be  little  doubt  that  such  fears  are, 
for  the  most  part,  unfounded.  That  matter  is 

20 


MEDICINE   AND   THEISM 


governed  by  mind,  that  the  contrivances  and 
elaborations  of  the  universe  are  the  products  of 
intelligence,  are  propositions  which  are  quite 
unshaken,  whether  we  regard  these  contrivances 
as  the  result  of  a  single  momentary  exercise  of 
will,  or  of  a  slow,  consistent,  and  regulated  evo- 
lution. The  proofs  of  a  pervading  and  developing 
intelligence,  and  the  proofs  of  a  coordinating  and 
combining  intelligence,  are  both  untouched,  nor 
can  any  conceivable  progress  of  science  in  this 
direction  destroy  them.  If  the  famous  sugges- 
tion, that  all  animal  and  vegetable  life  results 
from  a  single  vital  germ,  and  that  all  the  differ- 
ent animals  and  plants  now  existent  were  devel- 
oped by  a  natural  process  of  evolution  from  that 
germ,  were  a  demonstrated  truth,  we  should  still 
be  able  to  point  to  the  evidence  of  intelligence 
displayed  in  the  measured  and  progressive  de- 
velopment, in  those  exquisite  forms  so  different 
from  what  blind  chance  could  produce,  and  in 
the  manifest  adaptation  of  surrounding  circum- 
stances to  the  living  creature,  and  of  the  living 
creature  to  surrounding  circumstances.  The 
argument  from  design  would  indeed  be  changed; 
it  would  require  to  be  stated  in  a  new  form,  but 
it  would  be  fully  as  cogent  as  before.  Indeed,  it 
is,  perhaps,  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  more 
fully  this  conception  of  universal  evolution  is 

21 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

grasped,  the  more  firmly  a  scientific  doctrine  of 
Providence  will  be  established,  and  the  stronger 
will  be  the  presumption  of  a  future  progress. ' '  * 

In  such  a  manner,  despite  the  fact  that  in  tele- 
ology the  point  of  agreement  between  theistic 
and  physico-mechanical  medical  thought  has 
been  now  found,  theism,  in  the  course  of  the  his- 
tory of  our  science,  continually  attempted  new 
attacks  upon  the  physical  tendency  in  medicine; 
and  with  each  assault  superstition  in  medicine, 
as  well  as  in  the  natural  sciences,  was  most  palp- 
ably exposed. 

After  having  satisfied  ourselves  in  this  second 
chapter  regarding  theism  and  its  attitude  with 
reference  to  the  physico-mechanical  theory  of 
life,  we  shall  now  enter  upon  the  consideration 
of  the  various  forms  of  medical  superstition,  and 
it  is  our  intention,  as  stated  in  the  first  chapter, 
so  to  arrange  the  enormous  material  at  hand  as 
to  discuss  medical  superstition  according  to  the 
sources  from  which  it  has  sprung.  We  shall 
begin  by  pointing  out  the  intimate  relations 
which  have  prevailed  between  the  teachings  of 
religion  and  superstition. 


*  "  History  of  the  Rise  and  Influence  of  the  Spirit  of  Rationalism 
in  Europe,"  Vol.  I.,  Chapter  III.,  pages  294-295.  Compare  also  Mag- 
nus, "Medicine  and  Religion,"  page  24,  sqq. 


22 


Ill 


RELIGION   THE  SUPPORT  OF   MEDICAL 
SUPERSTITION 

RELIGION  undoubtedly  plays  the  most  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  history  of  medical  super- 
stition. Religious  teaching,  of  whatever  char- 
acter, has  fostered  medical  superstition  more 
than  any  other  factor  of  civilization.  Not  only 
has  religion  called  forth  and  nourished  medical 
superstition,  but  it  has  also  defended  it  with  all 
the  influence  at  its  disposal.  Indeed,  it  has  not 
infrequently  happened  that  those  who  were  re- 
luctant to  believe  in  the  blessings  of  a  medical 
theory  ridiculously  perverted  by  religion  were 
exposed  to  persecution  by  fire  and  sword.  And 
this  not  only  from  one  or  other  religious  de- 
nomination, for  all  religious  believers,  without 
exception,  had  proved  to  be  the  most  assiduous 
promoters  of  medical  superstition;  so  that  we 
are  probably  not  wrong  in  designating  priest- 
hoods in  general,  whatever  their  creed,  as  the 
most  prominent  embodiment  of  medical  super- 
stition during  certain  periods  of  the  world' s  his- 
tory. But  the  details  will  be  learned  from  the 
following  paragraphs: 

23 


SUPEESTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

§  1.  Priesthood  the  Support  of  Medical 
Superstition. — The  principal  reason  for  a  not 
quite  reputable  activity  in  the  chosen  represent- 
ative of  a  deity  is  probably  the  fact  that,  with  the 
appearance  of  a  physico-niechanical  contempla- 
tion of  the  world,  the  theistic  theory  of  life, 
which  until  then  had  exclusive  sway,  was  forced 
into  a  pitched  battle  with  a  newly  formulated 
definition  of  nature.  This  struggle  was  carried 
on  principally  by  the  priesthood,  who,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  had  most  to  lose  from  the  ascen- 
dency of  a  new  theory  of  life  which  only  reck- 
oned with  natural  factors.  They  indeed  had 
been  the  means,  until  then,  of  procuring  for  the 
people  the  assistance  of  the  gods  in  all  bodily 
ailments,  as  they  had  been  the  exclusive  de- 
positories of  physical  knowledge.  And  it  could 
scarcely  be  expected  that  the  priesthood  would 
at  once  willingly  relinquish  the  extensive  su- 
premacy hitherto  exercised  by  it  as  the  oracle 
of  divine  guidance  in  all  medico-physical  ques- 
tions; for  humanity  has  always  considered  the 
possession  of  authority  much  more  delightful 
than  submission,  and  the  ruler  has  always  ob- 
jected most  energetically  to  any  attempt  which 
disputes  his  rule.  This  was  precisely  what  was 
done  by  priests  of  all  creeds  when  the  inechanico- 
physical  theory  of  life  began  to  supersede  the 

24 


KELIGIUN  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

obsolete  dreams  of  theistic  medicine.  Fair- 
minded  persons  will  surely  allow  that  such  action 
was  natural.  But  they  can  not  approve  of  the 
methods  resorted  to,  unless  they  belong  to  those 
who  feel  bound  always  to  discern  nothing  but 
what  is  sacred  in  every  action  of  a  servant  of 
heaven. 

In  order  to  wage  war  most  effectively  against 
the  physico-mechanical  theory  of  life,  the  priest- 
hood at  once  claimed  for  themselves  the  power  of 
completely  controlling  nature.  They  made  the 
people  believe  that  the  celestials  had  bestowed 
upon  them  the  faculty  of  dominating  nature  in 
the  interests  of  the  sick,  and  that  all  powers 
of  the  universe,  the  obvious  ones  as  well  as  those 
mysteriously  hidden  in  the  depths  of  nature, 
were  obedient  to  sacerdotal  suggestions.  The 
servant  of  heaven  professed  that  he  could  regu- 
late the  eternal  processes  of  matter,  with  its  be- 
coming, being,  and  passing  away,  quite  as  irre- 
sistibly as  his  eye  was  able  to  survey  the  course 
of  time  in  the  past,  present,  and  future. 

Equipped  with  these  extensive  powers,  a 
priest  necessarily  appeared  to  the  people  not 
only  as  physician,  but  also  as  a  miraculous  being 
crowned  with  the  halo  of  the  supernatural.  And 
this  was  the  role  he  actually  played  in  many 
ancient  religions.  With  the  peoples  of  Italy  the 

25 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

priest  appeared — at  a  period,  indeed,  which  was 
previous  to  the  beginning  of  Rome — as  physi- 
cian, prophet,  interpreter  of  dreams,  raiser  of 
tempests,  etc.  He  held  exactly  the  same  offices 
among  the  Celtic  tribes  in  Gaul  and  Britain. 
His  position  was  the  same  in  the  Oriental  world, 
and  by  the  Medians  and  the  Persians  especially 
were  priests  considered  to  be  persons  endowed 
with  supernatural  powers.  We  may  notice  that 
members  of  a  certain  Median  tribe  formed  the 
sacerdotal  caste,  and  bore  the  name  of  t  ( Magi. ' ' 
However,  this  name,  which  originally  was  con- 
fined to  the  priestly  order,  obtained,  in  the  course 
of  time,  a  distinctly  secular  meaning.  Very  soon 
many  cunning  fellows  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  trade  of  a  sacerdotal  physician  and  con- 
jurer might  bring  a  profitable  livelihood  to  its 
professor,  even  if  this  professor  were  not  a  priest 
but  a  layman.  Thus  there  arose  a  special  pro- 
fession of  sorcerers,  miracle  workers,  and  medi- 
cine-men, who  protested  with  solemn  emphasis 
that  they  were  able  to  cure  all  physical  as  well 
as  psychical  ailments  of  their  fellow  men  as 
thoroughly  as  the  priests  had  done.  But  in 
order  to  bestow  the  required  consecration  upon 
this  art,  these  gentlemen  usurped  the  venerable 
name  of  the  above-mentioned  Median  sacerdotal 
caste  and  called  themselves  "Magi."  Thus  it 

26 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

happened  that  the  name  " Magus"  (magician), 
which  originally  served  to  designate  a  distinct 
sacerdotal  caste,  deteriorated  into  a  designation 
of  charlatans  and  swindlers.  This  could  never 
have  occurred  unless  the  priests  had  prostituted 
their  sublime  profession  and  degraded  it  to  va- 
rious kinds  of  discreditable  medico-physical 
deceptions.  This  alone  is  why  priesthood  is 
responsible  for  the  rise  of  the  magicians,  of  these 
worthless  fakirs.  But  if  Pliny  (Book  30,  Chap- 
ter I.,  §  2)  attempts  to  rank  magic  as  an  offshoot 
of  medicine,  he  is  justified  in  doing  so  only  in  so 
far  as  the  priest,  during  the  theistic  period,  was 
also  the  physician,  as  is  well  known.  Only  from 
this  point  of  view  is  it  possible  to  trace  a  genetic 
relation  between  medicine  and  magic.  But  med- 
icine in  itself  has  not  taken  the  slightest  part  in 
the  promotion  of  magic  and  the  success  of  its 
unsavory  reputation.  Indeed,  our  science  has 
suffered  too  much  through  the  practise  of  magic 
to  burden  itself  with  the  paternity  of  this  disrep- 
utable child  of  civilization. 

It  appears  that  the  name  of  the  Celtic  priests 
( '  'druids ' ' )  had  become  subject  to  the  same  abuse 
as  the  name  of  the  Median  priests  of  sacerdotal 
caste.  Thus  we  learn  of  female  fortune-tellers 
of  the  third  century,  A.D.,  who  call  themselves 
1 '  druidesses. ' '  But  it  seems  that  this  application 

27 


SUPEESTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

of  the  word  ' '  druid ' '  has  remained  a  local  oiie  arid 
strictly  limited,  whereas  the  expression  "  magi- 
cian," quite  generally  employed,  became,  in  the 
course  of  time,  the  designation  of  charlatans 
and  medical  impostors.  For  these  swindlers,  who 
carried  on  medico -physical  hocuspocus,  and  who 
claimed  to  exercise  supernatural  powers,  were 
called  "magicians"  during  the  entire  period  of 
classic  antiquity,  and  we  find  the  same  use  of  the 
word  in  the  middle  ages,  and  sometimes  also  *in 
more  modern  times. 

But  this  profession  of  magician,  which  sprang 
from  priesthood,  has  largely  promoted  supersti- 
tion in  medicine,  and  was  particularly  instru- 
mental in  bringing  it  into  extraordinary  repute. 
It  is  our  intention  to  concern  ourselves  a  little 
more  minutely  with  magicians  and  magic. 

§2.  The  Spread  of  the  Word  ' 'Magic. "— 
How  and  when  magic  was  transplanted  from  its 
Oriental  home  to  the  Occident  can  not  be  deter- 
mined with  certainty;  for  the  Greeks,  as  well  as 
all  antique  peoples,  probably  all  nations,  had  a 
belief  in  ghosts  and  demons,  in  fortune- telling, 
and  in  sorcery.  But  it  appears,  nevertheless, 
that  the  ancient  civilized  peoples  of  the  Orient, 
and  particularly  the  Persians,  cultivated  the 
magic  arts  with  especial  devotion,  and  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  it  was  from  the  East  that  the 

28 


BELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEESTITION 

prevailing  cult  of  magic  had  been  imported  into 
the  West.  Pliny,  for  one,  tells  us  (Book  30, 
Chapter  I.,  §  8)  that  magic  was  brought  to 
Europe  by  a  certain  Osthanes,  who  accompanied 
King  Xerxes  on  his  military  expedition  against 
Greece.  This  man  Osthanes,  as  Pliny  reports 
further,  is  said  to  have  disseminated  the  seeds  of 
this  supernatural  art  (velut  semina  artis  porten- 
tosce  insparsit}  wherever  he  went,  and  with  such 
success  that  the  Hellenic  peoples  were  actually 
mad  after  it,  and  prominent  men  traveled 
through  parts  of  the  Orient,  there  to  acquire 
personally  and  thoroughly  these  magic  arts,  thus, 
as  was  the  case  with  Pythagoras,  Empedocles, 
Democritus,  and  Plato.  In  fact,  it  is  said  of 
Democritus  that  he  opened  the  tomb  of  a  cele- 
brated magician — Dardanus  of  Phoenicia — that 
he  might  restore  to  publicity  the  mysterious  writ- 
ings of  the  latter.  It  appears,  moreover,  that 
Alexander  the  Great  entertained  an  implicit  be- 
lief in  magic — at  least,  Pliny  reports  that  during 
his  wars  he  was  always  accompanied  by  a  cele- 
brated magician. 

Magic  arts  were  likewise  in  favor  among  the 
Eomans.  Even  Nero  attempted  to  master  the 
secrets  of  magic,  altho  unsuccessfully  (Pliny, 
Book  30,  Chapter  II.,  §  5).  A  particular  im- 
petus was  given  to  magic  toward  the  end  of  the 

29 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

last  century  before  Christ  and  during  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  when  the  rise  of 
many  fantastic  philosophical  systems  greatly 
promoted  and  supported  the  belief  in  the  super- 
natural powers  of  magic.  Subsequently,  in  the 
middle  ages,  magic  experienced  an  accepted  and 
systematic  development.  These  conditions,  how- 
ever, will  be  more  explicity  referred  to  later  on. 
The  treatment  of  the  sick  through  supernat- 
ural agencies  assumed  quite  astonishing  dimen- 
sions under  the  Eomau  emperors.  The  belief  in 
magicians  was  so  generally  disseminated  that 
even  the  emperors  themselves  and  the  imperial 
authorities  were  almost  completely  devoted  to  it. 
Thus,  for  instance,  the  emperor  Hadrian  (117- 
138,  A.D.)  caused  himself  to  be  treated  by  phy- 
sicians who  claimed  miraculous  powers,  and  he  is 
said  to  have  written  a  book  on  theurgy.  In 
fact,  Suidas  (62  Julianus)  reports  that  Hadrian, 
on  account  of  a  severe  outbreak  of  pestilence  in 
Rome,  sent  for  the  son  of  the  Chaldean,  Julian, 
who,  simply  by  the  power  of  his  miracles, 
arrested  the  progress  of  the  disease.  Under 
Antoninus  Pius  official  proclamations  were  made 
in  the  forum,  directing  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  the  importance  of  magicians  (Philostratus, 
43),  and  the  emperor  Marcus  Aurelius  even  re- 
lates that,  when  in  Caieta,  the  gods  in  a  dream 

30 


prescribed  a  remedy  for  the  hemorrhagic  cough 
and  vertigo  from  which  he  was  suffering 
("  Marcus  Aurelius, "  Chapter  I.,  §  17,  page  11). 
But  it  appears  that  the  magicians  finally  went 
too  far  with  their  tricks,  and  endangered  human 
life  by  their  treatment;  so  that  several  emperors 
decided  upon  adopting  more  rigorous  measures 
against  their  knaveries.  The  emperor  Septi- 
mius  Severus  (193-211),  altho  himself  originally 
devoted  to  magic,  prohibited,  when  on  a  visit  in 
Egypt,  all  books  which  taught  curious  arts 
( Aelius  Spartiauus,  "Hadrianus,"  Chapter 
XV.,  §  5,  page  146).  Later  the  emperor  Dio- 
cletian took  energetic  steps  toward  abating  the 
mischief  done  by  magical  treatment  of  the  sick, 
and  the  magicians  were  permitted  to  carry  on 
such  arts  only  so  far  as  would  not  be  detrimental 
to  the  health  of  the  people.  However,  this  order 
did  not  check  the  magicians  any  more  than  it 
benefited  those  who  were  still  tortured  and 
brought  to  the  point  of  death  by  magic  quackery. 
Neither  did  medical  science  derive  any  advan- 
tage whatever  from  this  well-meant  but  com- 
pletely abortive  effort  of  the  emperor,  for  the 
magic  physicians  persisted  in  carrying  on  their 
hocuspocus,  and  unconcernedly  debased  the 
pharmacopoeia  by  the  introduction  of  nonsensical 
and  loathsome  substances.  Let  us  examine  more 

31 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

in  detail  this  department  of  medical  practise 
among  the  magicians. 

§  3.  The  Medical  Practise  of  the  Magi- 
cians.— The  magicians  adopted  various  modes  of 
procedure  in  the  treatment  of  the  sick:  they 
either  attempted,  as  do  our  modern  quacks,  to 
create  the  impression,  by  administering  medi- 
cine, that  they  were  actually  able  to  direct  the 
treatment  of  the  ailing  in  a  rational  manner,  or 
they  restricted  themselves  to  various  kinds  of 
magical  observances. 

The  drug  therapy  of  the  magicians  actually 
utilized  everything  under  the  sun  as  a  remedy. 
The  more  out  of  the  way  and  the  less  suitable  for 
a  remedy  a  substance  seemed  to  be,  the  more  likely 
it  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  magician  intent  upon 
healing.  For  it  was  always  the  main  object  of 
these  practising  quacks  to  make  their  treatment 
as  sensational  as  possible.  In  this  they  suc- 
ceeded best  by  employing  the  most  extraordinary 
substances  as  remedies.  Thus  they  made  use  of 
gold,  silver,  precious  stones  and  pearls,  just  be- 
cause these,  owing  to  their  value,  were  held  in 
great  esteem,  and  their  medical  application, 
therefore,  was  bound  to  create  a  sensation.  But 
the  most  loathsome  substances  were  quite  as 
readily  employed,  for  here,  too,  the  most  general 
attention  was  bound  to  be  attracted  by  their  ap- 

32 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

plication.  Human  feces,  urine,  and  menstrual 
blood  were  introduced  into  the  materia  medica 
in  such  a  manner.  The  awe  with  which  parts 
of  corpses  usually  inspired  the  uon -medical  part 
of  the  public  was  relied  upon  by  the  magicians 
to  advertise  their  cures.  Thus  these  quacks 
administered  powders  of  human  bones  to  the 
ailing. 

But  inasmuch  as  what  is  conspicuous  and  un- 
usual has  always  enjoyed  an  especial  esteem  with 
humanity,  the  incredible  remedies  of  the  magi- 
cians naturally  found  everywhere  an  abundance 
of  believers;  and  as  particularly  the  most  non- 
sensical theory  is  most  tenacious  of  life,  provided 
it  has  been  presented  in  apparent  combination 
with  the  miraculous,  the  medical  armamenta- 
rium rapidly  took  on  a  very  peculiar  aspect. 
Until  the  present  more  modern  times  medicine 
was  condemned  to  the  encumbrance  of  this  rub- 
bish, this  list  of  odd  and  loathsome  remedies, 
whose  admission  to  the  pharmacopoeia  was  only 
due  to  the  whim  of  a  human  mind  that  constantly 
hankers  after  the  extraordinary  and  the  miracu- 
lous. 

Finally  the  magic  observances  to  which  the 
magicians  resorted  in  the  treatment  of  the  sick 
have  shown  a  remarkable  vitality,  for  they  are 
in  vogue  even  in  modern  times,  and  many  sec- 

33 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

tions  of  our  people  even  to-day  swear  uncondi- 
tionally by  the  curative  efficacy  of  various  agen- 
cies which  demonstratively  have  been  derived 
from  the  medicine  of  the  magicians.  But  now 
such  agencies  are  no  longer  ascribed  to  magic  or 
sorcery,  but  they  are  called  "  cures  by  means  of 
sympathy."  And  as  many  modern  people  be- 
lieve that  various  incomprehensible  mystic  per- 
formances cause  certain  mysterious  powers, 
otherwise  absolutely  unknown,  to  exert  a  cura- 
tive influence  upon  certain  diseases,  so  did  the 
ancients  believe  exactly  the  same.  This  was  the 
origin  of  exorcism  as  a  remedy  for  disease.  Exor- 
cism played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  middle 
ages  as  a  means  of  stopping  hemorrhages,  and 
even  in  these  modern  times,  as  is  well-known, 
this  method  of  cure  finds  many  adherents. 

This  magic  treatment  was  believed  to  be  espe- 
cially efficacious  if  the  exorcisms  had  been  written 
or  engraved  upon  paper,  gold,  precious  stones, 
etc.,  in  which  case  they  were  suspended  around 
the  neck  of  the  patient.  Countless  talismans 
(from  the  Arabic  tilsam,  magic  image)  and  amu- 
lets (from  the  Arabic  hamalet,  trinket)  were  thus 
manufactured,  and  even  to  our  own  time  there 
are  survivals  of  this  medical  superstition.  Altho 
these  mystic  observances  are  performed  in  various 
ways,  and  their  modifications  are  practically  in- 

34 


EELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEBSTITIOX 

numerable,  yet  certain  radical  resemblances  are 
continually  appearing  among  the  magic  rites  of 
the  most  diverse  races,  and  some  of  these  prac- 
tises have  even  persisted  up  to  the  present  time. 
Thus  the  rope  of  the  hung  criminal  plays  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  antique  magic  as  well  as  in 
modern  sympathy  treatment;  the  same  impor- 
tance is  attributed  to  shooting -stars,  to  the  moon, 
to  crossroads,  to  certain  numerals,  such  as  3,  7, 
9,  etc.  It  is  a  highly  interesting  fact  that  such 
conceptions,  as  remarkable  for  their  therapeutical 
associations  as  for  their  crass  superstition,  are 
possessed  of  a  vitality  which  persists  for  centu- 
ries. Peoples,  religions,  philosophical  systems, 
political  revolutions  have  risen  and  vanished, 
but  the  belief  in  the  curative  action  of  the  rope 
of  a  hung  criminal  or  the  therapeutic  signifi- 
cance of  the  crossroad  has  survived.  The  mys- 
tic influence  which  is  exerted  by  the  numerals  3, 
7,  9,  and  still  more  so  by  the  dreadful  13,  upon 
the  life  and  health  of  man,  haunts  the  minds  of 
the  multitude  in  this  century  of  physical  enlight- 
enment exactly  as  it  did  in  remote  antiquity.  But 
we  can  not  here  enter  into  the  reason  for  these 
interesting  facts,  and  we  must  refer  those  who 
desire  more  detailed  information  on  this  subject 
to  the  voluminous  literature  of  superstition. 
Furthermore,  the  belief  in  magic  cures  was 

35 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

not  more  prevalent  among  the  ancient  professors 
of  medicine  than  among  the  laity,  and  even  the 
most  prominent  practitioners  were  not  able  to 
emancipate  themselves  from  this  belief.  Galen, 
for  instance,  who,  as  is  well-known,  mastered 
the  entire  literature  of  antique  medicine  as  none 
before  or  after  him  has  ever  done,  openly  avows 
his  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  magic  cures,  and, 
what  is  more  remarkable,  Galen  in  this  respect 
has  changed  from  a  Saul  to  a  Paul.  He  ruefully 
recalled,  later,  the  condemnatory  decree  which 
he  had  originally  promulgated  regarding  the 
magic  treatment  of  the  sick.  Let  us  call  to  mind 
how  he  expresses  himself  in  his  essay  on  medical 
treatment  in  Homer:  "Many,  as  I  have  done 
for  a  long  time,  believe  that  conjurations  resem- 
ble the  fairy  tales  of  old  women.  But  gradually, 
and  from  the  observation  of  obvious  facts,  I  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  power  is  exercised 
by  them;  for  I  have  learned  to  know  their  ad- 
vantages in  stings  of  scorpions,  and  also  in  bones 
which  became  lodged  in  the  throat,  and  which 
were  at  once  coughed  up  as  a  result  of  conjura- 
tion. Many  remedies  are  excellent  in  every  re- 
spect, and  magic  formulae  answer  their  pur- 
pose "  (  "  Alexander  of  Tralles, ' '  Book  11,  Chap- 
ter I.,  Vol.  II.,  page  477).  One  of  the  most 
prominent  post-Galenian  physicians  also,  Alex- 

36 


KELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEKfeTITION 

ander  of  Tralles,  opeuly  avows,  with  reference 
to  this  utterance  of  Galen,  that  he  himself  is  a 
believer  in  magic  cures,  and  he  says:  "If  the 
great  Galen,  as  well  as  many  other  physicians  of 
ancient  times,  bear  witness  to  this  fact  (the  effi- 
cacy of  magic  treatment  of  the  sick),  why  shall 
we  not  impart  to  you  what  we  have  learned  from 
our  own  experience  and  what  we  have  heard 
from  trustworthy  friends'?"  ("Alexander  of 
Tralles, ' '  ibid. ) .  Accordingly,  his  BifiXia  7a  rptxd 
was  filled  with  enumerations  of  the  most  various 
magical  cures.  But,  now,  if  the  classics  of  an- 
tique medicine  have  proven  themselves  to  be  so 
friendly  to  the  medical  science  of  magicians, 
what  was  the  condition  of  the  mind,  then,  of 
the  average  physician  of  ancient  times'?  Is  it 
astonishing  if  young  and  old,  high  and  low,  with- 
out distinction,  were  blind  adherents  of  magical 
medicine  ?  Thus  medical  literature  of  the  last 
century,  B.C.,  and  especially  that  of  the  centu- 
ries from  the  Christian  era  until  late  in  the  mid- 
dle ages,  was  an  actual  treasury  of  conjuration 
and  other  mummeries.  This  description  applies 
specifically  to  the  "  Materia  Medica  "  of  Quintus 
Serenus  Samonicus,  written  in  hexameters.  It 
is  true,  the  magical  sequel  to  this  book  entailed 
painful  consequences  on  the  writer,  for  the  em- 
peror Caracalla  had  the  poor  author  executed 

37 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

(Ael.  Spartian.,  "Caracalla,"  Chapter  IV., 
§  4)  merely,  as  it  is  reported,  because  he  dared 
to  advise  in  his  works  as  a  remedy  against  in- 
termittent fever  the  wearing  of  amulets,  a  med- 
ical expedient  which  had  been  prohibited  by  the 
emperor  himself. 

The  work  of  Sextus  Placitus  Papyriensis,  who 
lived  in  the  fourth  century,  which  treats  of  rem- 
edies derived  from  the  animal  kingdom,  teems 
with  magic  nonsense. 

But  an  actually  inexhaustible  stock  of  medical 
conjurations  was  contained  in  the  work  of  a  lay- 
man, Marcellus  Empiricus.  This  gentleman,  who 
had  been  foreign  minister  under  the  emperors 
Theodosius  the  first  and  the  second,  had  written 
a  thick  folio  volume  on  medicaments.  This  lit- 
erary performance,  which,  according  to  our  ideas, 
appears  to  be  very  odd  for  a  minister  of  state, 
was  by  no  means  remarkable  in  the  fifth  century, 
for  the  study  of  medical  subjects  was,  so  to  say, 
fashionable  among  the  laity  of  that  period ;  in 
fact,  even  prelates  and  bishops  did  not  think  it 
beneath  their  dignity  to  busy  themselves  with 
various  medical  questions  and  to  write  medico- 
physical  books.  Thus  the  laurels  of  medical  re- 
nown haunted  our  good  Marcellus  and  would  not 
let  him  sleep,  so  that  he  abridged  his  hours  of 
official  duty  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  able 

38 


EELIGIOK  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEESTITION 

to  compile  a  Materia  Medica  of  thirty-six  appa- 
rently never-ending  chapters.  But  if  the  states- 
manship of  Marcellus  was  on  a  par  with  his 
medical  book -making,  the  two  Theodosii  could 
not  have  missed  the  time  their  cabinet  minister 
stole  from  them,  for  his  medical  scribbling  is  an 
utterly  worthless  compilation.  Not  only  did 
Marcellus  copy  from  medical  authors  of  the  most 
discordant  opinion,  but  he  particularly  busied 
himself  in  collecting  indiscriminately  all  the 
magical  nonsense  of  the  ancient  times  ;  in  fact, 
it  seems  that  he  was  very  eager  to  obtain  all  this 
magical  rigmarole  direct  from  the  mouth  of  the 
people,  for  he  says  that  he  collected  his  remedies 
' '  ab  agrestibus  etplebeiis. ' '  Accordingly  his  book 
is  as  worthless  and  insipid  to  the  physician  as  it 
is  valuable  to  the  historian,  especially  the  his- 
torian of  civilization.  Here  are  a  few  examples 
of  this  medicine  of  the  magicians  : 

Remedy  against  warts  and  corns  (Pliny,  Book  28, 
Chapter  IV.,  §  12,  page  268) :  "  Lie  on  your  back 
along  a  boundary  line  on  the  twentieth  day  of  the 
moon,  and  extend  the  hands  over  the  head.  With 
whatever  thing  you  grasp  when  so  doing,  rub  the 
warts,  and  they  will  disappear  immediately. ' ' 

11  Whoever,  when  he  sees  a  shooting-star,  soon 
afterward  pours  a  little  vinegar  upon  the  hinge 
of  a  door,  is  sure  to  be  rid  of  his  corns. ' ' 

39 


SUPEBSTITIOK  IN  MEDICINE 

Remedy  against  headache  (Pliny,  ibid.*):  "Tie 
the  rope  of  a  hung  ciiminal  around  the  fore- 
head." 

Remedy  against  bellyache  (Priscian,  physician 
of  the  fourth  century,  Book  1,  Chapter  XIV., 
and  Sprengel,  Vol.  II. ,  page  248):  u  If  any  one 
suffer  from  colicky  pains  he  may  sit  down  on  a 
chair  and  say  to  himself :  l  Per  te  diacholon,  diach- 
olon, diacholon.'' ' 

"  A.  person  who  has  an  attack  of  colic  may 
take  the  feces  of  a  wolf,  which,  if  possible,  should 
contain  small  particles  of  bone,  enclose  them  in 
a  small  tube,  and  wear  this  amulet  on  the  right 
arm,  thigh,  or  hip." — Alexander  of  Tralles,  Book 
8,  Chapter  II.,  page  374. 

u  Take  the  heart  from  the  living  lark  and  wear 
it  as  an  amulet  at  the  left  thigh." — Alexander  of 
Tralles,  ibid. 

Remedy  against  epilepsy  (advised  by  the  phy- 
sician, Moschion  Diorthotes.  "  Alexander  of 
Tralles,"  Book  1,  Chapter  XV.,  page  570): 
1 l  The  forehead  of  an  ass  is  tied  to  the  skin  of 
the  patient  and  worn. ' ' 

"  Gather  iris,  peonies,  and  nightshade  when 
the  moon  is  on  the  wane,  pack  them  into  linen 
and  wear  as  an  amulet. ' '  Advised  by  the  ma- 
gician Osthanes. — Alexander  of  Tralles,  Book  1, 
Chapter  XV.,  page  566. 

40 


BELIGIQN  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEBSTITIQX 

"Take  a  nail  from  a  cross  and  suspend  it  from 
an  arm  of  the  patient."  Given  by  a  physician 
of  the  second  century,  A.D.,  by  the  name  of 
Archigenes. — Alexander  of  Tralles,  Book  1,  Chap- 
ter XV.,  page  566. 

"  Wear  on  the  finger  a  jasper  of  bluish-gray 
luster." — Advised  by  Dioscorides,  Book  5,  159. 

Remedy  against  podagra  [gout]  ( ' '  Alexander  of 
Tralles,"  Book  12,  page  582):  "Take  a  gold  leaf 
and  write  upon  it  when  the  moon  is  on  the  wane : 
mei,  threu,  mor,  for,  teux,  za,  zon,  the,  lu,  chri, 
ge,  ze,  on.  As  the  sun  becomes  firm  in  this 
name  and  daily  renews  itself,  so  does  this  forma- 
tion also  make  firm  as  conditions  were  previously. 
Quickly,  quickly,  rapidly,  rapidly.  For  behold! 
I  call  the  great  name  in  which  becomes  firm 
again  what  was  destined  to  die :  Jas,  azyf,  zyon, 
threux,  dain,  chook.  Make  this  formation  firm 
as  it  has  been,  quickly,  quickly,  rapidly,  rapidly. 
This  document  must  be  covered  with  the  tendon 
of  a  crane,  enclosed  in  a  capsule,  and  worn  by 
the  patient  at  his  heel. ' ' 

Remedy  against  diseases  of  the  eye  (advised  by 
Sextus  Placitus  Papyriensis.  Magnus,  "Oph- 
thalmology of  the  Ancients, ' '  page  597 ):  "If  the 
right  eye  becomes  afflicted  with  glaucoma,  rub  it 
with  the  right  eye  of  the  wolf,  and,  similarly,  the 
left  eye  with  the  left  eye  of  the  wolf." 

41 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

In  photophobia  (fear  of  light)  "Wear  as  an 
amulet  an  eye  which  was  taken  from  a  live 
crab. ' '  —  Quintus  Serenus  Samonicus.  Magnus, 
' '  Ophthalmology  of  the  Ancients, ' '  page  595. 

With  pains  of  the  eye  the  patient  must,  with 
a  copper  needle,  put  out  the  eyes  of  a  green  liz- 
ard caught  on  a  Jupiter  day,  during  a  moon 
that  is  on  the  wane,  in  the  month  of  September. 
The  eyes  must  be  worn  in  a  golden  capsule,  as 
an  amulet  around  the  neck  (Marcellus  Empiri- 
cus.  Magnus,  "Ophthalmology  of  the  An- 
cients, ' '  page  602. ) 

The  above  illustrations  are  surely  sufficient  to 
give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  medicine  of  the 
magicians.  At  the  same  time  they  show  the 
great  similarity  which  exists  between  these  an- 
cient magic  cures  and  the  sympathetic  cures  of 
our  people  at  the  present  day. 

§  4.  Ancient  Medicine  and  Magic. — But 
how  is  it  possible  that  the  ancient  physicians, 
and  even  the  most  enlightened  minds  among 
them,  should  not  only  have  tolerated  such  a 
crass  medical  superstition  as  the  above  ex- 
amples have  shown  us,  but  should  even  have 
incorporated  them  in  their  works'?  Incom- 
prehensible, however,  as  this  fact  may  appear 
to  the  modern  practitioner,  it  becomes  conceiv- 
able if  the  condition  of  antique  medicine  and  of 

42 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

the  medical  profession  of  ancient  times  is  con- 
sidered. 

In  the  first  place,  ancient  medical  science 
adopted  an  entirely  different  mode  of  diagnos- 
tico-theoretical  method  than  that  employed  by 
professors  of  medicine  in  modern  times.  Ancient 
natural  science  (compare  also  Chapter  V.  of  this 
work),  as  well  as  ancient  medicine,  obtained 
their  scientific  views  exclusively  by  deduction — 
i.e.,  they  deduced  individual  results  from  general 
presumptions,  or,  rather,  they  construed,  by 
reason  of  some  general  presumption,  the  physico- 
medical  consequences  which  were  to  follow  from 
such  a  general  supposition.  If  this  attempt  to 
obtain  an  insight  into  physical  processes  is  ex- 
tremely hazardous,  it  becomes  still  more  preca- 
rious when  the  manner  and  means  in  which 
these  general  presumptions  were  arrived  at 
were  primarily  of  an  entirely  hypothetical 
nature.  It  is  true,  no  fundamental  objection 
can  be  raised  to  this  method,  as  even  modern 
natural  science  and  medicine,  despite  the  fact 
that  their  methods  of  investigation  in  a  diagnos- 
tico -theoretical  respect  scarcely  admit  of  mate- 
rial objections,  can  not  do  without  hypothesis. 
But  hypothesis  is  not  always  mere  hypothesis. 
It  is  well  known  that  there  are  hypotheses 
which,  even  in  the  minds  of  the  most  conscien- 

43 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

tious  investigators,  are  not  inferior  to  that 
knowledge  which  is  obtained  by  experiment  and 
observation,  whereas  other  hypotheses  again 
present  the  distinct  stamp  of  insufficiency  and 
makeshift.  The  trustworthiness  and  the  heu- 
ristic value  of  an  hypothesis  depend  upon  the 
quality  of  the  diagnostico-theoretical  process  by 
means  of  which  it  was  obtained.  If  this  process 
has  been  such  as  physical  investigation  is  bound 
to  insist  upon,  the  hypothesis  thus  arrived  at  is 
fully  justified  to  supply  the  still  absent  data  with 
regard  to  the  phenomena  in  question.  This, 
however,  can  be  accomplished  by  hypothesis 
only  when  the  latter  is  not  set  forth  until  it 
plainly  appears  that,  in  spite  of  a  conscientious 
and  orderly  arrangement  of  observation  after 
observation,  of  experiment  upon  experiment, 
without  the  admission  of  logical  loopholes,  full 
data  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  phenomena 
is  not  forthcoming.  In  such  a  case  we  may  con- 
sider as  actually  proven  by  hypothesis  what  ob- 
servation and  systematic  experiment,  continuous 
and  logical,  were  intended  to  prove,  and  failed. 
However,  this  inductive  hypothesis  is  alone  en- 
titled to  be  considered  in  medicine.  Naturally, 
such  an  inductive  hypothesis  was  not  thought  of 
by  the  ancients,  as  the  inductive  method  of  in- 
vestigation was  generally  quite  unknown  to 

44 


EELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEKSTITION 

them.  The  process  by  which  ancient  medicine 
usually  attempted  to  find  its  hypothesis  was  by 
an  argument  from  analogy.  Each  and  every 
point  of  resemblance,  however  superficial,  be- 
tween two  phenomena  was  considered  sufficient 
by  the  ancient  naturalists  to  warrant  the  as- 
sumption that  analogous  phenomena  in  the  most 
various  domains  were  most  certainly  proven  to 
possess  similar  points  of  resemblance.  And 
upon  the  basis  of  such  an  insecure  method  of 
deduction — which,  moreover,  was  selected  entirely 
at  the  option  of  the  observer — the  ancient  inves- 
tigator erected  the  boldest  hypotheses.  Thus, 
for  instance,  the  atomic  theory  of  Leucippus  and 
Democritus  is  an  hypothesis  which  rests  upon 
the  basis  of  a  conclusion  from  analogy.  The 
motes  which  appear  in  the  rays  of  the  sun  led 
these  two  ancient  investigators  to  the  conception 
that,  like  the  particles  of  dust  sporting  in  the 
air,  the  primary  component  parts  of  everything 
that  exists  in  the  entire  universe  consisted  of 
similar  particles.* 

It  appears  that  Epicurus  arrived  at  his  theory 
of  light  (according  to  which,  as  is  well  known, 
images  of  things  were  brought  to  the  senses  by 
delicate  but  absolutely  objective  small  pictures 
which  were  detached  from  the  surface  of  things 

*  Lucretius,  Book  2,  Verse  113,  sqq. 

45 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

in  a  continuous  current)  by  the  fact  that  many 
animals — for  instance,  snakes — shed  their  skins. 
The  theory  of  humoral  pathology,  one  of  the 
most  important  advances  in  medical  science,  was 
based  on  a  conclusion  from  analogy  and  arrived 
at  by  the  deductive  method. 

The  diagnostico -theoretical  lines  in  which 
antique  medicine  moved  were  bound — and  this 
is  the  point  of  importance  in  this  case — to  exert 
a  determining  influence  upon  medical  criticism. 
For  medico-physical  criticism  can  only  appear 
in  closest  connection  with  the  prevailing  con- 
dition of  the  respective  sciences,  being  really 
nothing  else  but  a  precipitate  from  them.  Thus 
the  ancient  physicians  were  compelled  to  take  an 
entirely  different  position  toward  magical  medi- 
cine than  we  moderns,  educated  in  the  school  of 
inductive  methods,  have  always  taken.  The 
probable  and  similar,  the  supposable  and  pos- 
sible, in  which  deductive  medicine  found  its 
data,  working  on  the  lines  of  argument  from 
analogy,  were  necessarily  bound  to  find  expres- 
sion also  in  the  character  of  medical  critique, 
and  it  was  impossible,  therefore,  for  the  ancient 
physician  to  detect  anything  absurd  or  contrary 
to  experience  in  hypotheses  which  the  practi- 
tioner of  to-day  at  once  brands  as  nonsensical 
and  superstitious. 

46 


KELIGIOX  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEKSTITIOX 

We  are  not  in  the  least  justified,  therefore, 
in  speaking  disparagingly  of  Galen  and  Alex- 
ander of  Tralles  because  they  believed  in  mag- 
ical medicine  and  applied  it  in  their  practise. 
As  no  human  being  can  jump  out  of  his  skin,  so 
is  he  unable  to  get  beyond  the  intellectual  ad- 
vancement of  his  time.  As  the  ancient  physi- 
cians were  also  unable  to  do  this,  accordingly 
they  were  believers  in  the  magical  medicine. 

But  there  is  still  a  second  point  which  explains 
the  remarkable  position  taken  by  ancient  physi- 
cians in  relation  to  magical  medicine — namely, 
the  fact  that  the  conception  of  miracle  and  magic 
were  essentially  different  in  the  ancient  world 
from  what  they  are  at  present.  The  belief  in 
the  interference  of  spirits  and  supernatural 
beings  in  terrestrial  matters,  and  the  manifesta- 
tions of  their  influence  exerted  in  manifold  ways — 
sometimes  for  good,  sometimes  for  evil — had  been 
widely  disseminated  from  the  earliest  times,  and 
we  encounter  them  in  all  periods  of  classic  antiq- 
uity. This  belief  in  demons  had  become  incorpo- 
rated in  the  systems  of  many  leading  philosophers 
of  antiquity.  Now  if  the  world  were  filled  with 
demons  the  natural  consequence  was  that  their 
activity  would  manifest  itself  in  various  ways. 
It  was  necessary,  therefore,  that  man  should  al- 
ways be  prepared  to  experience  manifestations 

47 


SUPEESTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

which  more  or  less  violated  the  customary  order 
of  terrestrial  happenings,  and  for  this  reason 
nothing  that  could  be  styled  a  miracle  really  ex- 
isted for  him.  A  miracle  could  not  be  conceived 
in  its  full  modern  sense  until  it  was  realized  that 
the  course  of  all  natural  phenomena  was  noth- 
ing but  the  expression  of  eternal  and  changeless 
laws.  However,  it  was  not  until  comparatively 
late  that  this  conception  became  generally  dis- 
seminated; thus,  for  instance,  it  was  considered 
as  self-evident,  even  in  the  latest  periods  of  the 
middle  ages  and  during  the  first  beginnings  of 
modern  times,  that  divine  influence  could  al- 
ways, and  actually  did  always,  cause  an  altera- 
tion in  the  course  of  the  functions  of  the  body. 
In  fact,  there  is  an  amazingly  large  number  of 
people  even  in  our  time  who  believe  this,  and 
for  whom,  therefore,  the  conception  of  miracles, 
especially  of  miraculous  healing,  is  to-day  on 
about  the  same  level  as  that  on  which  it  stood 
in  the  time  of  Galen  and  Alexander  of  Tralles. 

Thus  we  must  admit  that  the  ancient  physi- 
cians were  by  no  means  below  the  standard  of 
civilization  and  culture  attained  during  their 
period  if  they  believed  in  the  possibility  of 
extraordinary  cures  effected  by  means  extrane- 
ous and  unscientific  in  their  treatment  of  the 
and,  accordingly,  they  supported  such 

48 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

methods.  However,  this  belief  in  miraculous 
medicines  on  the  part  of  the  ancient  physician 
was  always  restricted  to  certain  limits.  It  is 
true,  the  conception  was  always  adhered  to  that 
this  or  that  magical  agency,  or  this  or  that 
magical  action,  might  exert  an  influence  upon  the 
disease;  but  such  a  belief  never  led  them  to  omit 
any  strictly  medical  measures  of  a  surgical  or 
gynecological  nature.  On  the  contrary,  the  in- 
telligent physicians  of  antiquity  firmly  insisted 
that  the  actions  of  the  surgeon  and  of  the  gyne- 
cologist were  not  to  be  hampered  by  any  meta- 
physical considerations ;  thus,  for  instance, 
Soranus  demanded  most  energetically  that  the 
midwife  should  be  "ddeidiSaiju&v"  (without  fear 
of  any  demon) — i.e.,  she  was  not  to  be  super- 
stitious, but  free  from  any  imputation  which 
would  render  her  curative  interposition  objec- 
tionable. 

The  profession  of  the  magicians,  due  to  the 
persecutions  to  which  they  became  subject  under 
the  Christian  emperors  Valens,  Valentinian,  and 
Theodosius,  became  considerably  less  prominent 
during  the  predominance  of  Christianity,  but  the 
ideas  upon  which  it  had  been  erected  in  ancient 
times  still  survived;  in  fact,  these  ideas  were 
even  to  a  certain  extent  systematically  elabo- 
rated during  the  middle  ages,  and  at  this  time  a 

49 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

distinction  was  made  between  higher  and  lower, 
or  white  and  black,  magic.  The  white  magic 
busied  itself  with  good  spirits,  the  black  magic 
with  the  bad  ones.  Magicians,  therefore,  who 
operated  by  the  aid  of  the  devil,  and  even  in 
medicine  called  in  the  assistance  of  the  devil, 
were  called  ' '  necromancers. ' '  For  the  first  time 
magic  became  amalgamated  with  certain  philo- 
sophical speculations  and  also  with  Christian- 
dogmatic  constituents.  The  methods  adopted  by 
magic  medicine  under  these  conditions  are  so 
peculiar  and  are  so  close  to  the  boundary  lines 
between  philosophy  and  religion  that  we  are 
really  not  quite  certain  whether  to  relegate  it  to 
the  domain  of  one  or  of  the  other.  But  as  the 
fundamental  parts  of  these  methods  were  actu- 
ally supplied  by  philosophy,  we  propose  to  defer 
this  discussion  for  the  present,  and  to  take  up 
here  another  form  of  medical  superstition  which 
was  derived  exclusively  from  religion — namely, 
11  sleep  in  the  temple." 

§  5.  Sleep  in  the  Temple. — One  of  the  gener- 
ally practised  methods  of  medical  science  during 
the  period  of  Hellenic  civilization  which  was 
still  fully  under  the  influence  of  theism — i.e.,  for 
at  least  two  or  three  centuries  before  the  Hippo- 
cratic  era — was  what  was  known  as  "temple 
sleep."  In  fact,  this  method  must  be  considered 

50 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

a  sign  of  a  faith  distinctly  deep  and  sincere,  a 
faith  naive  and  childlike  indeed;  but  as  a  sign 
of  such  a  faith  this  method  is  actually  pathetic. 
No  taint  of  superstition  could  be  found  in  it  at 
the  early  period  referred  to.  It  was  still  the 
pure  and  unadulterated  expression  of  the  gener- 
ally prevailing  conception  that  human  art  is  to 
no  purpose  in  any  case  of  disease,  and  aid  must  be 
found  with  the  gods — with  those  gods  who  regu- 
late and  personally  execute  all  terrestrial  phe- 
nomena down  to  the  minutest  details.  Temple 
sleep  was  not  degraded  into  superstition  until 
medicine  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
phenomena  of  disease  were  not  evidence  of  an 
interference  by  supernatural  power  in  the  func- 
tions of  the  body,  but  disturbances  of  the  function 
of  the  body  caused  exclusively  by  natural  causes. 
In  accordance  with  this  view,  which  first  found 
its  fullest  and  clearest  exposition  in  the  corpus 
hippocraticum,  it  would  seem  absolutely  necessary 
for  temple  sleep  to  lose  all  recognition  from  the 
art  of  healing.  However,  this  not  being  the  case, 
it  was  bound  to  deteriorate  into  an  act  of  super- 
stitious mummery,  and  the  principal  blame  for 
this  sad  decadence  is  to  be  laid  primarily  upon 
the  priests.  It  was  their  duty  especially  to  lead 
into  the  path  of  truth  the  patients  who  persisted 
in  crowding  into  the  temples  in  the  spirit  of 

51 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

naive  and  childlike  piety.  They  sealed  their 
own  condemnation  as  fosterers  of  superstition 
when  they  failed  to  do  this  duty,  and  endeavored 
rather,  by  every  means  in  their  power,  to  con- 
firm the  multitude  in  their  ancient  belief  that 
the  gods  were  practising  medicine.  Non- Chris- 
tian as  well  as  Christian  priests  played  this  role 
for  many  centuries  with  equal  ability  and  equal 
perseverance,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following 
brief  history  of  temple  sleep. 

The  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  temple  sleep  had 
already  been  thoroughly  shaken  during  the  time 
of  the  great  Hippocrates;  therefore,  in  the  sixth 
century,  B.C.,  the  laughing  philosopher  of  Hel- 
lenism, Aristophanes,  the  satirical  contemporary 
of  Hippocrates,  in  Act  II.,  verses  654  to  750,  of 
his  comedy  ZZAouro?,  severely  criticizes  the  man- 
ner and  method  in  which  temple  sleep  was  em- 
ployed. Let  us  listen  to  the  words  in  which  the 
poet  describes  what  happened  in  the  temple 
during  the  observance  of  this  rite. 

The  god  ^Esculapius,  accompanied  by  his 
daughter  Panakeia,  appears  in  the  temple  to  ex- 
amine in  person  the  patients  gathered  there. 
The  first  one  he  meets  is  a  poor  wretch,  Neo- 
kleides,  who,  being  blear-eyed,  expects  cure  from 
the  god.  The  medically  skilled  ^Esculapius 
smears  upon  the  inverted  lids  of  this  patient  a 

52 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

salve  which  causes  such  pain  that  the  poor  fellow 
will  probably  never  seek  his  help  again.  The 
second  patient  met  by  the  god  is  the  blind  god, 
nkovTos  (i.e.,  Wealth  Personified).  Here  the 
conduct  of  -ZEsculapius  is  entirely  different  from 
that  which  he  adopted  when  treating  poor  Neo- 
kleides.  Now  he  carefully  strokes  the  head  of  the 
patient,  then  produces  a  linen  cloth  and  care- 
fully touches  the  lids  with  it.  He  then  calls  his 
daughter  Panakeia,  who  winds  a  red  cloth  round 
the  head  of  blind  Wealth.  Now  JEsculapius 
whistles,  and  two  mighty  serpents  appear,  glide 
under  the  purple  cloth,  and  lick  the  eyes  of  the 
patient.  Shortly  afterward  the  god  regains  his 
sight. 

This  passage  is  a  cutting  satire  on  practises 
which  undoubtedly  prevailed  in  the  Greek  tem- 
ples as  early  as  the  sixth  century,  B.C.  But, 
nevertheless,  it  took  a  long  time  before  the 
patients  lost  their  belief  in  the  miraculous  effi- 
cacy of  temple  sleep,  and  the  priesthood  contin- 
ually strove  to  revive,  by  the  mysterious  stories 
of  various  kinds  they  recounted  to  doubters,  the 
belief  in  temple  sleep.  The  sixth  of  the  marble 
votive  tablets  which  were  found  in  the  temple  of 
jEsculapius  at  Epidaurus  shows  the  kind  of 
miraculous  reports  invented  by  the  priests.  The 
latter  were  in  the  habit  of  inscribing  upon  these 

53 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

tablets  reports  of  cures  that  had  occurred  in  their 
sanctuary,  for  the  benefit  of  the  visitors  of  the 
temple  and  for  the  still  greater  benefit  of  the 
medical  historians;  but  it  is  quite  probable  that 
the  priesthood,  intent  upon  curing,  were  encour- 
aged in  their  medico-literary  attempts  only  by 
the  silent  hope  of  creating  an  abundant  supply 
of  patients  by  such  miraculous  reports.  The 
above  tablet,  No.  6 — which  probably  dates 
from  the  third  century,  B.C. — tells  us  that  a 
blind  man  by  the  name  of  Hermon,  a  native  of 
Thasos,  had  recovered  his  sight  by  sleeping  in 
the  Epidaurean  temple  of  ^sculapius.  How- 
ever, it  appears  that  this  man  Hermon  had  been 
a  miserable  wretch,  for  he  disappeared  without 
having  expressed  his  thanks  in  hard  cash.  Nat- 
urally such  ingratitude  provoked  the  god, 
and  summarily  he  blinded  the  thankless  in- 
dividual again.  It  required  a  second  temple 
sleep  before  the  god  condescended  to  be- 
come helpful  once  more.  But  our  tablet  does 
not  mention  anything  about  the  amount  of 
the  remuneration  paid  by  our  friend  Hermon 
who  had  been  twice  cured  of  blindness;  neither 
is  this  at  all  necessary.  The  miraculous  tablet, 
even  without  stating  the  price,  doubtless  made 
sufficient  impression  upon  the  minds  even  of  the 
most  parsimonious  of  future  patients. 

54 


EELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEKSTITION 

Altho,  therefore,  the  more  enlightened  among 
the  Greeks  recognized,  as  early  as  in  the  sixth 
century,  B.C.,  the  futility  of  temple  sleep  as  a 
means  of  healing,  the  ancient  world  never  relin- 
quished it  entirely.  We  encounter  it  again  in 
the  later  periods  of  antiquity.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, Suetonius  and  other  ancient  authors  tell 
us  that  two  patients,  one  blind,  the  other  lame, 
one  day  approached  the  emperor  Vespasian, 
who  happened  to  be  in  Alexandria,  asking  him 
to  spit  into  the  eyes  of  the  one  and  to  stroke  the 
paralyzed  limbs  of  the  other;  for  they  had  been 
notified  in  temple  sleep  that  they  would  be  re- 
stored to  health  if  only  the  emperor  would  deign 
to  perform  the  above-mentioned  manipulations. 
But  Vespasian  was  an  enlightened  ruler  who,  in 
spite  of  his  imperial  dignity,  did  not  have  much 
confidence  in  the  medical  qualities  of  his  saliva 
and  of  his  hands,  and  accordingly  unceremoni- 
ously dismissed  both  supplicants.  This  caused 
great  terror  among  the  priests  of  Serapis  and 
among  the  courtiers,  for  obviously  they  had  in- 
terpreted this  affair  solely  as  intended  in  majorem 
Vespasiani  gloriam.  The  emperor  was  impor- 
tuned, therefore,  kindly  to  aid  the  unfortunate, 
but  he  persisted  in  his  refusal.  Probably  he  was 
right  in  fearing  the  loss  of  his  prestige  should  the 
imperial  medical  powers  prove  unequal  to  the 

55 


task  of  curing  disease.  Not  until  the  priests 
solemnly  vouched  for  the  truthfulness  of  the 
dream-sending  god  Serapis,  and  declared  a  fail- 
ure of  the  imperial  cure  to  be  impossible,  did 
Vespasian's  stubbornness  relent.  Now  he  spat, 
and  rubbed  the  paralyzed  limbs,  and  the  blind 
saw,  and  the  paralytic  arose  and  walked. 

§  6.  Church  Sleep. — When,  subsequently, 
the  ancient  religious  died  out,  and  had  left  the 
world  as  an  heritage  to  Christianity,  temple 
sleep  had  by  no  means  died  out  also.  On  the 
contrary,  after  the  lapse  of  three  centuries,  it 
again  came  into  favor  with  the  Christian  priests. 
And  the  use  of  it  now  was  scarcely  less  in  favor 
than  it  had  been  a  thousand  years  previous  in 
the  world  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  Let  us  men- 
tion a  few  examples.  The  first  four  stories  are 
taken  from  the  works  of  Gregory  of  Tours. 

Mummolus,  who  came  to  the  court  of  Justin- 
ian (527  to  565)  as  the  ambassador  of  King 
Theudebert,  suffered  greatly  from  calculi  of  the 
urinary  bladder,  and  during  this  journey  he  be- 
came subject  to  an  attack  of  renal  colic.  Things 
went  badly  with  poor  Mummolus,  and  he  was  in 
a  great  hurry  to  make  his  will.  Whereupon  he 
was  advised  to  pass  one  night  sleeping  in  St. 
Andrew's  Church,  at  Pateras,  for  St.  Andrew  had 
performed  many  miraculous  cures  in  this  place. 

56 


BELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEBSTITION 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  Mummolus,  greatly 
tormented  by  pain  and  fever,  and  despairing  of 
life,  had  himself  placed  upon  the  stone  flags  of 
the  sanctuary,  and  waited  there  for  the  things 
that  were  to  happen.  Suddenly,  toward  mid- 
night, the  patient  awoke  with  a  violent  desire  to 
urinate,  and  discharged  in  a  natural  manner  a 
calculus  which,  as  St.  Gregory  assures  us,  was 
so  enormous  that  it  fell  with  a  loud  clatter  into 
the  vessel.  From  that  hour  Mummolus  was 
hale  and  hearty,  and  joyfully  started  on  his 
journey  homeward. 

In  Brioude,  the  capital  of  the  present  depart- 
ment Haute-Loire,  there  was  a  woman  named 
Fedamia,  who  had  been  paralyzed  for  years. 
In  addition  to  this,  she  was  penniless,  and  her 
relatives,  therefore,  brought  her  to  the  Church 
of  St.  Julian,  who  enjoyed  a  great  reputation  in 
Brioude,  in  order  that,  even  if  she  did  not  be- 
come cured,  she  might  at  least  make  some  money 
by  begging  at  the  church  door.  For  eighteen 
years  she  had  lived  thus  when,  one  Sunday 
night,  while  she  slept  in  the  colonnade  adjoining 
the  church,  a  man  appeared  who  took  her  by 
the  hand  and  led  her  toward  the  grave  of  St. 
Julien.  On  arriving  there  she  uttered  a  fervent 
prayer,  and  in  a  moment  felt  as  if  a  load  of 
actual  chains  fell  from  her  limbs.  All  this,  it 

57 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICIKE 

is  true,  happened  in  a  dream,  but  when  the 
patient  awoke  she  was  hale  and  hearty,  and  was 
able,  to  the  amazement  of  the  assembled  multi- 
tude, to  walk,  with  loud  prayers,  to  the  grave  of 
the  saint. 

A  certain  man,  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind,  known 
by  the  name  of  Amagildus,  also  tried  the  sleep 
in  the  Church  of  St.  Julian,  at  Brioude.  But  it 
appears  that  this  saint  was  not  always  quite 
accessible  to  the  wishes  of  the  sick.  It  is  true, 
Amagildus  was  not  obliged,  like  Fedamia  of  the 
previous  narrative,  to  pass  eighteen  years  in  the 
basilica,  but,  nevertheless,  he  had  to  sleep  for  a 
full  year  in  the  colonnade  of  the  church  before 
the  curative  power  of  the  holy  martyr  delivered 
him  from  his  ailment. 

Veranus,  the  slave  of  one  of  the  clergy  under 
Gregory,  was  so  violently  attacked  by  gout  that 
he  was  absolutely  unable  to  move  for  an  entire 
year.  Thereupon  his  master  pledged  himself  to 
advance  the  afflicted  slave  to  the  priesthood  if 
St.  Martin  would  be  willing  to  cure  him.  To 
accomplish  this  cure  the  slave  was  carried  to 
the  church,  and  there  placed  at  the  feet  of  the 
saint.  The  poor  wretch  had  to  remain  there  for 
five  long  days,  and  it  seemed  as  tho  St.  Martin 
had  forgotten  all  about  him.  Finally,  on  the 
sixth  day,  the  patient  was  visited  by  a  man  who 

58 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEESTITION 

seized  his  foot  and  drew  it  out  straight.  The 
slave  rose  to  his  feet  in  terror,  and  perceived 
that  he  was  cured.  For  many  years  he  served 
St.  Martin  as  a  priest. 

But  the  most  wonderful  cure  was  that  of  the 
German  emperor  Henry  II.,  called  "  The  Saint " 
(1002  to  1024).  This  emperor,  who  was  of  Ba- 
varian stock,  suffered  greatly  from  the  stone, 
and  had  retired  to  the  Italian  cloister  Monte 
Cassino,  inasmuch  as  this  cloister  during  that 
period  justly  enjoyed  an  extraordinary  medical 
reputation.  But  whether  the  monks  of  Monte 
Cassino,  altho  well  versed  in  medical  art,  did 
not  have  sufficient  confidence  in  their  ability  to 
treat  an  emperor,  or  whether  they  were  induced 
by  some  other  reason,  is  not  known;  however, 
instead  of  submitting  the  imperial  patient  to  the 
operations  of  terrestrial  medicine,  they  surren- 
dered him  to  the  providence  of  heaven,  and 
more  particularly  to  the  sympathy  of  St.  Bene- 
dict. This  saint  fully  justified  the  confidence 
that  was  placed  in  him,  for,  during  an  acute 
period  in  the  patient's  sufferings,  he  appeared 
in  his  own  holy  person,  and  with  his  own  holy 
hands  he  performed  the  necessary  operation,  and, 
after  having  pressed  the  stone  that  he  had  re- 
moved from  the  bladder  into  the  hand  of  the 
sleeping  emperor,  he  retired  heavenward.  But 

59 


SUPERSTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

he  took  care  from  his  heavenly  residence  to  at 
tend  to  the  prompt  healing  of  the  operation 
wound,  and  this  was  surely  very  good  of  St. 
Benedict.  In  fact,  his  entire  behavior  duriug 
this  case  was  extremely  proper  and  laudable; 
for  is  it  not  much  more  fitting  that  the  imperial 
bladder  should  be  delivered  from  its  disagreeable 
visitor,  the  stone,  at  the  hands  of  a  saint  than 
by  those  of  mortal  beings,  even  if  those  mortal 
beings  were  the  pious  and  medically  skilled 
monks  of  Monte  Cassino !  * 

The  form  in  which  we  encounter  the  Christian 
temple  sleep  in  the  above  stories  is  as  like  as  two 
peas  to  that  practised  in  the  Hellenic  temples. 
They  are  distinguished  merely  by  the  fact  that 
the  Greek  gods  generally  hastened  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  patients  after  the  latter  had  spent 
one  night  in  the  temple,  whereas  the  Christian 
saints  often  allowed  years  to  pass  before  the  pa- 
tient, who  was  crying  for  aid,  secured  relief. 

Christianity  has,  however,  created  one  varia- 
tion of  the  temple  sleep,  and  this  is  the  sleep 
which  is  taken,  altho  outside  of  the  church,  at 
any  place  whatever,  but  with  invocation  of  the 
saints.  This  sleep  was  said  to  be  exactly  as  effi- 
cacious as  that  taken  in  the  church  itself,  pro- 


*  Compare  Leibnitz,  Script.  Brunsvic,  Vol.  I.,  page  525.    Spren- 
gel,  Vol.  II.,  page  91. 

60 


EELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEBSTITION 

vided  the  patient  had  fervently  prayed  before 
falling  asleep,  and  had  particularly  remembered 
the  saint  whose  assistance  he  required.  The  two 
following  narratives,  which  are  also  taken  from 
the  works  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  may  serve  as  sig- 
nificant examples  of  this  variety  of  temple  sleep. 

Alpinus,  Count  of  Tours,  was  so  tormented  for 
years  by  a  pain  in  his  foot  that  life  had  no 
further  joys  for  him,  so  that,  sleepless  and  with- 
out appetite,  he  took  to  his  bed.  Again  and 
again  had  he,  in  secret  prayer,  appealed  to  St. 
Martin  for  relief.  So  one  day  the  Count  sud- 
denly falls  into  a  deep  sleep,  during  which  St. 
Martin  appears  to  him,  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross  over  the  diseased  foot.  Thereupon  the  pain 
suddenly  left  him,  and  Alpinus  was  able  to  leave 
his  couch,  fully  cured.  In  this  case  the  saint 
showed  himself  extremely  considerate  toward 
the  sick  count,  in  that  he  was  attired  in  a  smart 
uniform  when  paying  his  visit.  It  was  his  inten- 
tion, obviously,  in  choosing  this  costume  to  grat- 
ify the  martial  tastes  of  the  nobleman;  for  St. 
Martin,  when  visiting  patients,  by  no  means 
always  affected  this  warlike  array,  as  will  be  seen 
from  the  following  story. 

A  certain  woman  was  so  severely  afflicted  with 
campsis  of  the  fingers  that  she  completely  lost 
the  use  of  her  hands.  Even  a  visit  to  the  church 

61 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

which  was  consecrated  to  St.  Martin  in  Tours 
had  brought  her  no  relief.  The  patient  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  sanctuary  with  her  fingers 
still  diseased.  But  it  seems  that  this  patient  was 
actually  of  a  very  contented  disposition ;  for  when, 
upon  her  return,  away  from  Tours,  she  lay  down 
to  her  first  night's  rest,  she  thanked  God  that  at 
least  her  life  was  spared,  and  that  she  had  been 
permitted  to  see  the  grave  of  St.  Martin.  Af- 
fected by  so  much  modesty,  St.  Martin  appeared 
to  her  in  her  sleep,  and,  like  to  St.  Benedict  in 
the  case  of  the  emperor  Henry,  with  his  own 
holy  hands  he  performed  somewhat  of  an  opera- 
tion upon  the  patient,  in  that  he  stretched  her  bent 
fingers  in  such  a  manner  that  the  tense  tendons 
were  evidently  torn  ;  for  Gregory  tells  us  that, 
under  the  treatment  described,  blood  flowed  from 
the  straightened  fingers  of  the  woman.  But  St. 
Martin  had  entirely  discarded  his  martial  attire 
upon  this  visit.  Evidently  such  a  garb  did  not 
seem  to  him  appropriate  when  visiting  a  female 
patient;  he  therefore  appeared  before  the  patient 
in  a  purple  cloak  with  a  cross  in  his  hand. 

However,  the  medical  activity  of  the  saints 
was  by  no  means  restricted  to  cases  of  church 
slumber,  but  was  manifested  in  the  most  various 
forms. 

§  7.  Medical  Saints. — Some  saints  had  a  de- 

62 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

cided  predilection  for  medical  specialties,  and 
for  that  reason  paid  a  particular  attention  to  cer- 
tain varieties  of  disease.  Thus,  St.  Anna  espoused 
ophthalmology;  St.  Jude  cured  coughs;  St.  Val- 
entine, epilepsy  ;  St.  Catherine  of  Siena,  the 
plague.  Not  even  our  domestic  animals  were 
forgotten  by  the  saints.  Thus,  St.  Roch  of  Mont- 
pellier  distinguished  himself  especially  by  his 
skill  as  a  veterinarian. 

Various  were  the  ways  of  obtaining  the  med- 
ical aid  of  this  or  that  saint.  The  most  simple 
was  probably  that  the  patient  attended  mass  in 
the  church  of  his  town,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
made  an  offering  to  the  saints.  More  difficult 
was  it  to  undertake  a  pilgrimage  to  one  or  the 
other  of  the  saints  who  enjoyed  a  medical  repu- 
tation; this  was  generally  done  on  the  birthday 
of  the  celestial  physician.  It  seems  that  the 
saint  was  especially  inclined  on  this  day  to  prac- 
tise medicine  ;  at  least,  the  chroniclers  report 
that  great  numbers  of  the  most  difficult  cases 
were  successfully  treated  on  such  days. 

A  very  efficacious  method  of  securing  medical 
treatment  from  saints  was  considered  to  be  the 
placing  of  the  patient  in  the  church  during  the 
day  in  the  space  between  the  altar  and  the  grave 
of  the  saint.  The  bed  of  the  mortally  sick,  fever- 
racked  patient  was  placed  there,  and  for  days 

63 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

was  compelled  to  remain  here  wrestling  with 
death.  This  was  done,  for  instance,  with  the 
dying  Countess  Eborin.  In  case  severe  epidem- 
ics were  prevalent,  it  is  likely  that  the  churches 
very  often  resembled  actual  hospitals.  Then 
dozens  of  beds  with  their  patients  were  set  up  in 
the  churches,  and  many  a  one  who  was  in  good 
health  when  he  entered  the  church  to  say  his 
prayers  probably  returned  home  with  the  germ 
of  a  pestilence  acquired  in  the  sanctuary. 

But  the  saints,  as  we  have  seen,  were  by  no 
means  always  so  anxious  or  in  such  a  hurry  to 
manifest  their  medical  skill.  They  often  made 
the  patient  wait  for  years  for  their  aid.  The 
church,  therefore,  made  practical  arrangements 
to  meet  every  requirement.  Larger  buildings 
were  erected  close  to  the  church  intended  for  the 
reception  of  patients.  Here  those  who  were  hop- 
ing to  find  help  could  obtain  shelter  and  food, 
and  were,  therefore,  able  to  rest  quietly,  and  to 
await  the  moment  when  heavenly  aid  might  ap- 
pear. This  arrangement  proved  to  be  extremely 
practical,  especially  because  a  good  many  indi- 
viduals felt  themselves  cured  only  so  long  as  they 
remained  in  the  proximity  of  the  saint,  but  be- 
came reafflicted  as  before  when  they  returned  to 
their  homes. 

But  as  the  slumber  and  the  protracted  sojourn 

64 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

in  the  ecclesiastical  hostelries  was,  nevertheless, 
rather  uncomfortable,  especially  in  consideration 
of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  which  were  in- 
volved in  traveling  during  the  middle  ages,  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  invent  a  means  of 
administering  the  medical  aid  of  the  saints  in 
such  a  way  as  was  always  accessible  to  the 
patient.  This  was  managed  by  the  use  of  relics. 
§  8.  Cult  of  Relics. — It  was  believed  that 
God  had  endowed  the  bodies  of  martyrs  who  died 
for  the  Christian  faith,  or  of  saints  distinguished 
by  extraordinary  piety,  with  a  miraculous  power 
of  extraordinary  efficacy,  and  not  only  the  mor- 
tal relics  of  the  martyrs  and  saints  were  wonder- 
working, but  actually  all  objects  which  had  come 
in  contact  with  the  persons  of  saints  during  their 
life  as  well  as  after  their  death.  All  such  ob- 
jects were  possessed  of  curative  power.  Let  us 
listen  to  what  Gregory  of  Tours  says  under  this 
head:  "  The  miracles  which  our  Lord  God 
deigned  to  bring  about  through  St.  Martin,  his 
servant,  once  a  pilgrim  in  the  flesh,  he  causes 
to  be  repeated  daily,  to  strengthen  the  confidence 
of  the  faithful;  for  now  he  endows  his  tomb  with 
precisely  the  same  wonder-working  power  as  was 
exhibited  by  the  saint  himself  while  still  among 
us.  Who  will  now  persist  in  doubting  the  former 
miracles  when  he  observes  their  continuation  in 

65 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

the  present  day,  when  he  sees  the  lame  walk,  the 
blind  receive  their  sight,  devils  cast  out,  and 
every  variety  of  disease  cured  by  the  help  of 
the  saint  1 "  (  "  Bernoulli, ' '  page  287) . 

The  statement  of  such  a  luminary  of  the  Church 
as  Gregory  of  Tours  has  undoubtedly  gained 
ecclestiastical  credence  for  the  medical  efficacy 
not  only  of  the  tomb  of  St.  Martin,  but  of  all  the 
relics  relating  to  that  saint.  It  remained  only  to 
distribute  the  superior  medical  power  which  was 
contained  in  the  holy  tombs  and  relics  in  such  a 
form  as  would  enable  all  patients,  wherever  they 
happened  to  be,  to  make  use  of  them.  This  task, 
apparently  most  difficult,  was  settled  very  easily. 
It  was  discovered  that  everything  which  came  in 
contact  with  a  relic  actually  absorbed  a  sacred 
and  miraculous  power  contained  in  the  same, 
and  what  had  been  absorbed  was  by  no  means 
imponderable.  Quite  the  contrary.  Something 
of  material  substance,  and,  therefore,  physically 
demonstrable,  passed  from  the  relic  into  the  ob- 
jects surrounding  it:  It  was  indeed  a  celestial 
fluid,  but,  nevertheless,  of  so  terrestrial  a  nature 
that  the  priests  were  able  to  demonstrate  its 
transference  by  means  of  a  common  pair  of  scales. 
Thus  it  was  customary  that  the  silk  shreds 
which  were  deposited  by  the  pilgrims  upon  the 
tomb  of  the  apostle  Peter  were  weighed  before 

66 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

they  were  placed  there  and  weighed  again  after 
their  removal.  This  weighing  always  and  with- 
out exception  indicated  a  considerable  increase 
in  their  weight.  The  pilgrim  then  could  travel 
homeward  and  be  thoroughly  consoled,  as  the 
scale  had  demonstrated  to  him  the  amount  of  mi- 
raculous power  contained  in  his  silk  rag.  It  was 
really  astonishing,  under  some  circumstances, 
what  an  enormous  amount  of  curative  fluid 
could  flow  from  such  a  holy  tomb  into  a  single 
terrestrial  object.  This  was  what  happened  to  a 
king  of  the  Suavians.  He  had  a  sick  son,  for 
whose  cure  every  remedy  had  proved  unavail- 
ing. He  at  last  sent  an  embassy  to  Tours  to  ob- 
tain a  relic  of  St.  Martin,  but  this  relic  was 
destined  to  be  manufactured  with  the  assistance 
of  the  embassy.  The  priests  were  quite  willing 
to  comply  with  the  desire  of  their  royal  peti- 
tioner, and  thus  a  piece  of  silk,  duly  weighed 
beforehand,  was  placed  upon  the  tomb  of 
St.  Martin.  After  this  silk  had  remained  for 
one  night  upon  the  holy  sepulchre,  and  the  em- 
bassy had  knelt  beside  praying  fervently,  the 
silk  absorbed  so  much  curative  power  that  the 
register  of  the  scale  was  raised  to  its  highest  pos- 
sible notch. 

Knowing,  then,  that  any  desired  object  could 
be   saturated  with  the  miraculous  power  con- 

67 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

tained  in  a  relic,  they  used  to  apply  this  celestial 
power  through  medicaments,  and  to  accomplish 
this  a  number  of  methods  were  in  use.  The  most 
popular  was  to  scrape  the  tombstones  on  the 
graves  of  the  saints  as  thoroughly  as  possible. 
The  powder  thus  obtained  was  then  put  into 
water  or  wine,  and  thus  a  medicine  was  acquired 
which  possessed  an  astonishing  curative  power. 
It  was  efficacious  even  in  the  severest  ailments  of 
the  body.  Let  us  listen  to  what  Gregory  of 
Tours  has  reported  concerning  the  medicinal  vir- 
tues of  such  tombstone  potions. 

He  says:  "Oh,  indescribable  mixture,  incom- 
parable elixir,  antidote  beyond  all  praise!  Celes- 
tial purgative  (if  I  may  be  permitted  to  use  the 
expression),  which  throws  into  the  shade  every 
medical  prescription,  which  surpasses  in  fra- 
grance every  earthly  aroma,  and  is  more  powerful 
than  all  essences;  which  purges  the  body  like 
the  juice  of  scammony,  clears  the  lungs  like  hys- 
sop, and  the  head  like  sneezewort;  which  not 
only  cures  the  ailing  limbs,  but  also,  and  this  is 
much  more  valuable,  washes  off  the  stains  from 
the  conscience  !" 

According  to  this  extensive  power  of  the  tomb- 
stone powder,  it  is  by  no  means  astonishing  that 
Gregory  of  Tours,  when  traveling,  always  carried 
a  box  of  this  miraculous  powder  with  him,  so 

68 


EELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEKSTITION 

that  he  was  able  at  once  to  heal  the  patients  that 
surrounded  him.  I  was  not  able  to  obtain  from 
the  literary  sources  at  my  disposal  any  data  as  to 
whether  the  direct  licking  off  of  the  tombstones 
might  not  have  been  still  more  efficacious  than 
the  all-healing  extract.  Gregory  does,  however, 
report  that  he  was  cured  of  a  tumor  of  the  tongue 
and  lips  by  merely  licking  the  railing  of  the  tomb 
of  St.  Martin  and  kissing  the  curtain  of  the 
temple. 

Another  very  efficacious  remedy  was  the 
charred  wick  of  the  wax  candles  which  had 
burned  in  the  church.  This  wick  was  pulver- 
ized, and  in  this  manner  a  very  powerful  curative 
powder  was  obtained  which,  when  taken,  acted 
in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  the  watery  or  vin- 
ous tombstone  infusion. 

The  wax  which  dripped  from  candles  that  were 
placed  near  the  holy  sepulchre  was  also  credited 
with  many  medicinal  virtues,  but  it  seems  that  it 
was  employed  more  as  an  external  than  an  in- 
ternal remedy. 

The  water  which  had  been  used  before  Easter 
to  clean  the  altar  of  the  saints  was  also  considered 
to  be  a  famous  remedy.  If  such  water  was  em- 
ployed in  washing  a  patient  he  recovered  at  once, 
and  this  was  the  happy  experience  of  Count- 
ess Eborin.  This  exhalted  patient  was  suffering 

69 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

so  severely  that  she  believed  her  hour  had  come. 
She  was  then  quickly  removed  to  the  church  of 
St.  Martin,  and  thoroughly  washed  with  the 
water  that  had  been  used  in  washing  the  altar. 
And,  behold  !  the  disease  disappeared,  and  let 
us  hope  that  the  overjoyed  countess  afterward 
enjoyed  many  years  of  life. 

Oil  from  lamps  hung  in  holy  places  was  also  a 
favorite  remedy,  but  it  appears  that  it  was  prin- 
cipally used  for  anointing.  However,  when 
mixed  with  holy  water,  it  furnished  a  remedy 
which  could  be  administered  to  diseased  cattle 
with  a  prospect  of  positive  cure. 

Water  which  was  obtained  by  boiling  the  cov- 
ers in  which  the  relics  were  wrapped  also  yielded 
a  very  efficacious  medicine.  Thus,  for  instance, 
Gregory  of  Tours  caused  a  silk  cover,  in  which 
a  piece  of  the  cross  of  Christ  had  been  wrapped, 
to  be  thoroughly  boiled,  and  he  then  adminis- 
tered this  decoction  to  patients;  the  curtains 
which  were  used  as  ornaments  over  holy  graves 
also  displayed  an  extremely  beneficent  effect  upon 
the  sick.  If  an  individual  suffering  from  head- 
ache touched,  for  instance,  the  carpet  which  was 
placed  over  the  resting-place  of  St.  Julian,  the 
pain  ceased.  But  if  a  patient  was  afflicted 
with  abdominal  pains,  all  that  was  necessary  to 
relieve  him  at  once  was  to  pull  a  thread  from 

70 


BELIGIOtf  AKD  MEDICAL  SUPEBSTITION 

this,  the  above-named  carpet,  and  to  apply  it  to 
his  rebellious  digestive  apparatus. 

However,  it  was  not  necessary  for  the  priests, 
under  some  circumstances,  personally  to  take  the 
trouble  of  manufacturing  miraculous  medicines 
from  relics.  There  existed  some  holy  graves 
which  were  so  accommodating  that  they  fur- 
nished, of  their  own  accord,  the  holy  material 
that  was  required  for  the  treatment  of  the  sick. 
Thus  the  chronicler  records  that  the  grave  of  the 
evangelist  John  exuded  a  sort  of  white  manna, 
which,  owing  to  its  wonder-working  curative 
power,  was  distributed  all  over  the  world.  A 
similar  product  was  yielded  by  the  grave  of  the 
Apostle  Andrew  on  the  festival  day  of  that  saint. 
A  precious  oil  scented  like  nectar  also  sprang 
from  the  resting-place  of  this  man  of  God. 

•  We  see,  therefore,  that  the  sacred  pharmaco- 
poeia teemed  with  remedies,  and  that  they  were 
quite  extensively  employed  is  shown  sufficiently 
by  the  history  of  the  saints  and,  above  all,  by 
the  works  of  Gregory  of  Tours.  The  latter,  in 
particular,  offer  an  actually  inexhaustible  mine 
of  information  concerning  the  medical  activity 
of  Christian  saints. 

It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  this  medical 
activity  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  priests  or  of 
laymen  to  such  an  extent  that  the  services  of  a 

71 


professional  physician  were  entirely  discarded. 
It  is  true,  Gregory  of  Tours  expresses  himself  in 
reference  to  the  terrestrial  physicians  in  a  man- 
ner which  is  by  no  means  complimentary,  for  he 
says: 

11  What  are  they  (the  physicians)  able  to  ac- 
complish with  their  instruments?  Their  office 
is  rather  to  cause  pain  than  to  alleviate  it;  if  they 
open  the  eye  and  cut  into  it  with  pointed  lancets, 
they  surely  cause  the  agony  of  death  to  come  in 
sight  before  assisting  in  the  recovery  of  vision, 
and  if  all  precautionary  measures  are  not  thor- 
oughly carried  out  the  power  of  sight  is  lost  for- 
ever. Our  beloved  saint,  however,  has  only  one 
instrument  of  steel,  and  that  is  his  will,  and  only 
one  salve,  and  that  is  his  curative  power." 

But  in  spite  of  this  want  of  confidence  in  phy- 
sicians, Gregory  of  Tours  did  not  hesitate  even- 
tually to  interfere  quite  extensively  with  the 
practise  of  the  saints  by  the  employment  of  or- 
dinary medicine. 

At  least,  he  frequently  did  so  when  he  felt  sick 
himself.  Thus,  one  day,  when  he  was  afflicted 
with  severe  bellyache,  he  employed  warm  poul- 
tices and  baths,  and  only  when  the  refractory 
abdomen  gave  him  no  rest,  after  a  continuance 
of  this  treatment  for  six  days,  did  Gregory  apply 
to  St.  Martin.  When,  at  another  time,  Gregory 

72 


RELIGION  AKD  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

was  affected  with  so  severe  an  attack  that  his 
death  was  believed  to  be  imminent,  he  caused 
himself  at  first  to  be  treated  according  to  all  the 
rules  of  medical  science,  and  not  until  improve- 
ment failed  to  appear,  did  he  think  of  the  aid  of 
the  saints.  Then  he  spoke  to  his  physician  as 
follows:  "Well,  you  have  exhausted  all  remedies 
of  your  art,  you  have  used  up  all  your  powers 
and  juices,  but  the  remedies  of  this  world  do  not 
help  him  who  is  destined  to  die.  Only  one  thing 
remains  for  me  to  do.  I  shall  tell  you  the  great 
remedy:  take  some  stone  powder  from  the  grave 
of  St.  Martin  and  prepare  it  for  me." 

The  healing  of  the  sick  by  the  power  of  the 
saints  and  through  relics  was  in  favor  through- 
out the  middle  ages,  and  even  in  the  sixteenth 
century  it  was  so  generally  in  vogue  that  a  phy- 
sician by  the  name  of  Wyer  (1515  to  1588)  con- 
sidered it  expedient  to  demonstrate  the  incredi- 
bility of  such  heavenly  interference. 

It  is  by  no  means  my  intention  to  hold  solely 
dogmatic  Christendom  of  the  middle  ages  and 
the  Christian  priest  responsible  for  the  mon- 
strous superstition  into  which,  according  to  the 
above  description,  Christian  religion  had  degen- 
erated in  the  domain  of  medicine.  This  super- 
stition resulted  from  the  cooperation  of  quite 
incongruous  factors ;  but  we  can  by  no  means 

73 


SUPERSTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

exempt  the  Christian  priest  entirely  from  blame, 
in  that  he  assisted  very  materially  in  furthering 
it.  For  -we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  Christian 
cloister  of  the  middle  ages  was  not  only  the  last 
refuge  of  humanistic  culture,  but  the  science 
of  medicine  found  an  asylum  of  preeminent  im- 
portance within  its  precincts.  Medicine  had 
taken  refuge  in  the  cloister  from  the  storms  and 
tribulations  which  followed  the  political  collapse 
of  antiquity  and  from  the  excitement  of  national 
migrations,  and  had  here  attained  a  high  degree 
of  perfection.  In  fact,  we  may  contend,  without 
exaggeration,  that  at  certain  periods  of  the  mid- 
dle ages  the  Christian  monastery  had  the  impor- 
tance as  a  medical  school  which  was  later  on 
claimed  by  the  university  ;  for  the  Christian 
monks  not  only  nursed  the  sick  and  practised 
medicine,  but  also  took  an  interest  in  its  scientific 
development.  They  were  well  acquainted  with 
the  medical  classics  of  ancient  times,  such  as 
Hippocrates,  Herophilus,  Dioscorides,  Galen, 
Paul  of  ^Egina,  and  others,  as  well  as  with  the 
ancient  medical  celebrities  of  second  and  third 
rank.  Briefly,  medical  knowledge  in  its  en- 
tirety was  contained  in  the  cloisters  of  the  mid- 
dle ages  ;  the  cloisters,  indeed,  furnished  a  con- 
siderably larger  quota  of  the  medical  profession 
than  the  laity.  In  such  a  state  of  affairs  it 

74 


might  have  been  expected  that  the  monks  and 
priests  should  have  applied  their  extensive  med- 
ical knowledge  to  combat  the  terrible  abuses 
which  had  invaded  medicine  in  connection  with 
the  names  and  the  bones  of  the  saints.  But  this 
they  never  did,  neither  during  the  middle  ages 
or  later  on.  Priesthood  has  never  seriously  at- 
tempted to  promote  medical  enlightenment.  On 
the  contrary,  plenty  of  writings  exist  in  which 
the  crassest  superstition  in  medico -physical  af- 
fairs was  defended  by  the  clergy,  who  quite  fre- 
quently exhibit  the  same  spirit  while  practising 
medicine.  Medical  relief  obtained  by  entirely 
terrestrial  remedies  they  speedily  placed  to  the 
credit  of  the  saints,  as  was  done,  for  instance,  by 
the  monks  of  Monte  Cassino,  when  (as  we  have 
seen  above)  they  persuaded  the  emperor  Henry 
II.  that  not  the  temporal  hands  of  the  friar  phy- 
sicians had  performed  an  operation  for  stone 
upon  him,  but  that  St.  Benedict  in  person  had, 
with  his  own  holy  hands,  extracted  the  stone 
from  the  imperial  bladder. 

By  leading  the  laity,  in  numerous  cases  and 
against  their  better  knowledge  and  conscience, 
to  believe  that  the  aid  of  the  saints,  and  of  the 
relics  originating  from  them,  was  far  superior  to 
medical  services,  the  Christian  priests  of  the 
middle  ages  have  on  their  part  contributed  quite 

75 


SUPEESTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

a  considerable  share  to  the  horrors  of  medical 
superstition.  It  is  true,  we  must  not  overlook 
the  fact  that  monks  and  priests  of  the  middle 
ages  were  the  product  of  their  time,  in  the  same 
manner  as  we  of  modern  times  are  the  product 
of  our  period.  And  as  the  middle  ages  formed 
an  era  of  miracles,  of  demons,  devils,  and  witches, 
numerous  members  of  the  clergy,  as  children  of 
i:?eir  time,  surely  had  an  essentially  different 
op-  jion  of  the  belief  in  miracles  and  demons  from 
that  which  we  have.  The  conception  of  miracles 
was  entirely  different  during  the  middle  ages 
from  what  it  is  in  modern  times;  for  the  sincere 
and  firm  belief  in  the  omnipotence  of  the  one 
God,  which  with  Christianity  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  world,  had  firmly  fixed  in  the  Chris- 
tian mind  of  that  period  the  idea  that  God  was 
able  at  any  moment  to  manifest  his  omnipotence 
by  changing  the  course  of  terrestrial  phenomena, 
and  actually  did  manifest  it.  Thus  to  a  Christian 
of  the  middle  ages  it  did  not  appear  miraculous 
that  an  alteration  in  the  course  of  natural  law 
should  occur.  It  was  considered  quite  conceiv- 
able that  the  same  natural  phenomena  should 
spring  from  one  cause  to-day  and  from  a  differ- 
ent one  to-morrow,  according  to  the  pleasure  of 
God;  it  would  have  been  just  as  inconceivable  to 
the  early  Christians,  and  to  their  later  corelig- 

76 


ionists  of  the  middle  ages,  that  all  natural  pro- 
cesses are  carried  into  effect  according  to  eter- 
nally unalterable  laws,  beyond  the  interference 
of  divinity,  as  it  is  incomprehensible  to  us  to 
conceive  that  God  would  at  any  time  change  a 
law  of  nature  in  favor  of  one  or  the  other  mortal 
being.  The  conception  of  miracle  during  the 
first  sixteen  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  was 
entirely  different  from  that  of  the  subsequent  era. 
We  must  not,  therefore,  guage  the  ideas  of  priests 
and  laymen  of  those  centuries  who  believed  in 
medical  miracles  by  the  same  standard  as  that 
by  which  we  judge  those  who  to-day  still  persist 
in  admitting  the  existence  of  medico-physical 
wonder  or  miracle.  It  is  highly  probable  that, 
under  conditions  as  described  above,  many  Chris- 
tian monks  and  priests  vacillated  between  the 
requirements  of  faith  and  the  results  of  their  own 
medical  knowledge.  The  medieval  scholar's 
feeling  drew  him  to  one  side,  his  intelligence  to 
the  other,  and  thus  he  became  destitute  of  a  firm 
hold — the  intellectual  sport  of  his  period  and  of 
his  environment.  That  prominent  lights  of  the 
Church  could  become  subject  to  such  vacillations 
we  learn  from  Gregory  of  Tours,  who  attempted 
to  cure  bodily  ailments  at  one  time  with  the 
medicaments  of  professional  medicine,  at  other 
times  with  the  saving  means  of  the  celestial  drug- 

77 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

store;  who  at  one  time  deprecated  the  art  of 
temporal  physicians  in  favor  of  medically  skilled 
saints,  at  other  times  fled  to  human  medicine  for 
refuge. 

Finally  the  position  of  the  medically  learned 
monk  and  priest  with  reference  to  the  general 
public,  during  the  middle  ages,  was  by  no  means 
an  easy  or  an  agreeable  one.  The  people  clung 
with  invincible  tenacity  to  the  belief  in  demons 
and  miracles.  Ancient  as  well  as  Christian 
philosophy  was  firmly  pledged  to  a  belief  in 
demons,  whose  existence  was  supported  by  the 
sacred  testimony  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  not  aston- 
ishing, therefore,  that  the  people  should  cling  to 
their  belief  in  various  forms  of  supernatural  inter- 
ference with  the  functions  of  organic  beings,  and 
thus  it  may  frequently  have  happened  that  a 
medically  enlightened  priest,  fearing  the  oppo- 
sition of  a  people  eager  after  celestial  medicine, 
sacrificed  his  scientific  convictions  to  the  caprices 
of  a  mistaken  faith.  Unfortunately,  only  a  few 
had  in  them  the  making  of  a  scientific  martyr, 
and  the  history  of  Christianity  teaches  us  that  it 
is  much  easier  to  be  a  martyr  of  faith  than  a 
martyr  of  science. 

But  what  has  been  stated  thus  far  will  by  no 
means  acquit  the  Christian  priest  of  blame  which 
he  incurred  by  favoring  medical  superstition; 

78 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

such  acquittal  would  be  radically  futile.  But  we 
mean  to  show  that  the  conduct  of  the  servants  of 
our  faith,  altho  not  pardonable,  is  quite  explic- 
able. The  historian,  in  order  to  present  to  his 
readers  the  relation  which  had  gradually  formed 
between  Christianity  and  medical  superstition, 
must  show  himself  prosecutor  and  defendant  at 
the  same  time. 

Equally  with  dogma  and  priesthood,  theistic 
belief  also  has  been  a  powerful  instrument  in  the 
furthering  of  medical  superstition,  and  this  point 
we  shall  next  consider. 

§  9.  Theistic  Thought  as  the  Fosterer  of 
Medical  Superstition. — Altho  the  theist,  by 
accepting  a  physico- mechanical  interpretation  of 
natural  phenomena,  abandoned  his  main  posi- 
tion, yet  the  theistic  belief  by  no  means  became 
obsolete — i.e.,  the  belief  that  God,  unrestricted 
by  natural  laws,  personally  directed  terrestrial 
manifestations  still  held  its  ground.  This  belief 
remained  dominant  in  many  minds,  in  spite  of 
all  that  philosophers  and  naturalists  said  in  re- 
gard to  the  forms  and  life  of  organic  structures. 
The  vitality  which  this  belief  has  shown  during 
the  development  of  our  race  is  actually  astonish- 
ing. In  spite  of  the  wide  acceptance  of  the 
physico  mechanical  theory  of  life,  the  belief  that 
God,  without  regard  to  natural  laws,  unceas- 

79 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

ingly  interfered  with  the  course  of  natural 
events,  and,  consequently,  also  with  the  condi- 
tions of  the  human  body,  has  not  only  remained 
active,  but  has  even  succeeded  in  recovering  an 
extensive  part  of  its  lost  ground.  We  shall  soon 
see  that  this  is  a  repetition  of  what  has  occurred 
during  all  periods  of  human  development.  Even 
to-day,  when  the  mechanical  theory  of  life  has 
won  its  greatest  triumphs,  and  more  than  twenty 
centuries  have  passed  since  the  great  Hippoc- 
rates preached  a  theory  of  medicine,  purified 
from  all  theistic  and  theurgic  accretions,  indi- 
viduals are  still  met  with  who  presuppose  the 
therapeutic  activity  of  God  in  all  cases  of  dis- 
ease as  a  self-evident  fact.  Such  a  condition  of 
opinion,  history  teaches  us,  always  prevails  at 
periods,  during  which  a  craving  for  religious  ex- 
citement becomes  excessively  acute.  It  is  either 
a  new  form  of  religion  which  so  preoccupies  the 
public  mind  and  the  intelligence  that  all  phe- 
nomena are  conceived  of  as  in  closest  relation- 
ship with  God,  or  else  some  individual  appears 
who,  carried  away  by  religious  enthusiasm, 
teaches  that  the  existence  of  nature  independ- 
ent of  God  is  not  admissible,  and  succeeds 
in  enlisting  numerous  followers  under  his  ban- 
ner. Under  similar  conditions  theistic  belief 
had  occasionally  succeeded  in  regaining  its  su- 

80 


BELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEESTITION 

premacy  in  the  domain  of  medicine.  In  taking 
up  the  consideration  of  some  such  instances  we 
can  only  treat  them  briefly,  as  an  exhaustive 
handling  of  this  most  interesting  material  would 
carry  us  too  far  away  from  our  present  subject. 

The  belief  that  God  was  the  best  physician, 
not  only  of  the  soul  but  of  the  body  also,  was 
deepened  by  the  dissemination  of  Christianity. 
The  sincerity  of  faith  among  the  Christians  of 
the  first  century  was  so  intense  that  a  great 
number  of  them  believed  that  their  bodily  wel- 
fare could  not  be  watched  over  more  carefully 
than  when  it  was  commended  exclusively  to  the 
care  of  God  in  all  cases  of  sickness.  Accord- 
ingly, they  entirely  neglected  medical  aid  and 
treated  all  diseases  only  by  prayers,  by  anoint- 
ing, and  by  laying  on  of  hands.  This  mode  of 
treatment  corresponds  to  what  is  contained  in 
the  epistle  of  James  v  :  14-16 — 

1  ( Is  any  sick  among  you  ?  let  him  call  for  the 
elders  of  the  church  ;  and  let  them  pray  over 
him,  anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord: 

"  And  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the  sick, 
and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up ;  and  if  he  have 
committed  sins,  they  shall  be  forgiven  him. 

"Confess  your  faults  one  to  another,  and  pray 
one  for  another,  that  ye  may  be  healed.  The 

81 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man 
availeth  much." 

The  extent  of  this  treatment  by  prayer  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  even  prominent  fathers 
of  the  Church — for  instance,  St.  Benedict  (died 
543) — were  addicted  to  it. 

Moreover,  an  attempt  was  made  to  increase 
the  therapeutic  value  of  prayer  by  various  ac- 
cessories and  aids.  Thus  the  Gospel  was  placed 
upon  the  affected  part  of  the  body,  or  clothing 
of  a  particularly  pious  man  was  spread  over  the 
patient.  It  appears  that  the  sudarium  and  the 
coat  of  the  apostle  Paul  were  held  to  possess  such 
healing  power,  and  were,  therefore,  frequently 
employed  as  instruments  of  healing.  Thus 
we  read  in  the  Act  of  the  Apostles  xix  :  12 — 
"So  that  from  his  body  were  brought  unto  the 
sick  handkerchiefs  or  aprons,  and  the  diseases 
departed  from  them,  and  the  evil  spirits  went 
out  of  them. ' ' 

In  fact,  medical  superstition  went  so  far  that 
it  divined  a  potent  curative  virtue  even  in  the 
shadow  of  the  apostle  Peter.  Thus,  Acts  v  :  15 — 

1  i  Insomuch  that  they  brought  forth  the  sick 
into  the  streets,  and  laid  them  on  beds  and 
couches,  that  at  least  the  shadow  of  Peter  pass- 
ing by  might  overshadow  some  of  them." 

Probably  we  shall  not  be  wrong  in  regarding 

82 


BELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPEKSTITION 

this  procedure  as  the  origin  of  that  relic  cult 
which  was  destined  to  attain  such  astonishing 
dimensions  in  medical  practise. 

The  mode  of  treatment  by  means  of  prayer 
was,  perhaps,  intimately  connected  with  the  idea 
that  bodily  ailments  were  divinely  ordained  to 
make  the  wrath  of  God  distinctly  perceptible  by 
man.  This  conception  of  pathological  processes 
was  a  very  ancient  one.  We  meet  with  it  among 
the  Egyptians,  and  we  read  in  the  book  of  Exo- 
dus that  God  visited  upon  Pharaoh  and  his  peo- 
ple various  bodily  afflictions,  such  as  pestilence, 
black  smallpox,  death,  as  in  the  case  of  the  first- 
born. Afterward  Christianity  adopted  this  view 
of  sickness  as  providential,  and  the  belief  as- 
sumed very  peculiar  forms  and  dimensions  in  the 
middle  ages.  In  those  times  any  disease  occur- 
ring epidemically  was  actually  considered  to  be 
an  act  of  retribution  on  the  part  of  the  divine 
being,  a  scourge  with  which  God  punished  sinful 
Christians.  Thus,  for  instance,  syphilis,  which 
originated  in  Naples  in  1495,  during  the  struggle 
between  the  reigning  house  of  Aragon  and  the 
French,  was  instantly  declared  to  be  the  chastise- 
ment of  God.  The  emperor  Maximilian  declares, 
in  an  edict  issued  August  7,  1495,  at  Worms: 
' l  Quod  novus  ille  et  gravissimus  hominum  morbus 
nostris  diebus  exortus,  quern  vulgo  malum  Franci- 

83 


SUPEKST1TION  IN  MEDICINE 

cum  vocant,  post  hominum  memoriam  inauditus  scepe 
grassetur,  quce  nos  justissimce  Dei  me  merita  debent 
admonere"  (Gregorovius  VII.,  386,  foot-note  1). 

But  it  is  very  astonishing  to  observe  the  causes 
which  aroused  the  wrath  of  God  so  mightily  that 
countless  numbers  of  men  were  swept  away. 
Thus,  for  instance,  the  pious  Bishop  of  Zeeland, 
Peter  Paladius,  assures  us  that  miliary  fever, 
that  terrible  disease  which  devastated  Europe 
five  times  from  1486  to  1551,  was  sent  by  God, 
who  was  angry  at  the  excessive  passion  for  finery 
which  prevailed  at  that  time.  Medical  science, 
as  founded  on  theism,  assumed  menacing  forms, 
where,  in  the  middle  ages,  it  associated  itself 
with  magic,  but  as  we  shall  more  exhaustively 
enlarge  upon  this  point  in  Chapter  IV.  we  need 
merely  refer  here  to  that  part  of  our  work. 

It  is  indeed  surprising  that  the  above-men- 
tioned manifestations  all  occurred  in  periods  in 
which  medicine  had  already  acknowledged  the 
physico-mechanical  interpretation  of  all  organic 
processes;  but  the  strangeness  of  this  fact  is  en- 
hanced by  the  consideration  that,  even  in  recent 
times,  and  even  at  the  present  moment,  there 
have  been,  and  are,  individuals  who  not  only 
preach  the  doctrine  that  medicine  is  bound  to  be 
subordinate  to  Christian  faith,  but  also  find  ad- 
herents to  their  dogmas,  and  find  them  in  sur- 

84 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

prising  numbers.  Recently  we  have  learned 
from  two  exceedingly  instructive  examples  to 
what  extremes  the  sentiment  of  fanatical  religion 
may  lead  men  so  soon  as  they  shake  off  the 
steadying  influence  of  physico-mechanical  ideas 
in  their  theory  of  life.  Then  Theocracy  strives  for 
an  exclusive  ascendancy  in  the  domain  of  med- 
icine, as  is  distinctly  shown  by  the  position  taken 
by  Mrs.  Eddy,  with  her  " Christian  Science," 
and  Eev.  John  Alexander  Dowie,  with  his 
11  Christian  Catholic  Church  of  Zion." 

If  we  first  of  all  examine  the  system  of  Mrs. 
Eddy,  we  find  it  an  absurd  farrago  of  undigested 
philosophical  odds  and  ends,  illogical  medical 
aphorisms,  and  shallow  investigation,  which 
reaches  its  pitch  of  folly  in  the  belief  that  dis- 
ease has  no  real  foundation  in  the  material  tissues 
of  the  body,  but  should  be  explained  as  arising 
exclusively  from  certain  conditions  of  the  mind. 
In  accordance  with  this  conception,  which  has 
been  borrowed  from  a  natural  philosophy 
long  since  relegated  to  oblivion,  the  services 
both  of  physician  and  physic  are  to  be  rejected, 
and  the  treatment  of  the  sick  is  to  be  carried  on 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  patient,  under  super- 
vision of  an  individual  expert  in  such  affairs,  is 
merely  to  fix  his  mind  on  the  spiritual,  or  divine, 
principle  inherent  in  himself. 

85 


SUPERSTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

We  are  by  110  means  astonished  that  a  person 
to  whom  the  laws  of  thought  are  entirely  un- 
familiar, and  who  is  not  very  much  burdened 
with  knowledge  of  any  other  kind,  should  ad- 
vance such  confused  and  preposterous  theories 
as  those  of  Mrs.  Eddy.  History  teaches  us  that 
human  beings  have  arisen  at  all  periods,  in  all 
ranks  of  life,  and  in  cold  blood  have  given  cur- 
rency to  the  wildest  of  theories.  But  the  most 
interesting  point  is  that  at  this  day  when,  as  we 
might  believe,  the  advances  in  physical  science 
have  enlightened  to  some  extent  even  the  most 
unintellectual,  Mrs.  Eddy  is  able  to  find  ad- 
herents, especially  among  the  best  classes  of 
society,  and  to  find  them  in  such  numbers  that 
the  authorities  have  been  compelled  to  interfere 
in  repressing  the  practises  of  this  medical  super- 
stition. I  purposely  say  interesting,  and  not 
"  astonishing "  or  "  wonderful, ''  because  the 
historian,  whatever  domain  he  undertakes  to  in- 
vestigate, will  always  discover  that  stupidity  has 
at  all  times  been  a  power  superior  to  all  the  in- 
fluences of  culture  and  learning.  Mrs.  Eddy, 
with  her  Christian  Science,  proves  to  us  that  even 
in  this  era  of  scientific  enlightenment,  this  truth 
remains  incontrovertible. 

Rev.  John  Alexander  Dowie,  with  his  Chris- 
tian Catholic  Church  of  Zion,  must  be  judged 

86 


RELIGION  AND  MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

from  an  entirely  different  view-point  than  Mrs. 
Eddy.  It  is  true,  this  latter-day  saint  arrives  at 
exactly  the  same  end  as  Mrs.  Eddy — namely,  at 
the  absolute  rejection  of  professional  treatment, 
medical  as  well  as  surgical.  But  he  arrives  at 
this  theory,  which  so  closely  concerns  both  his 
own  health  and  that  of  his  adherents,  by  an 
entirely  different  way  from  that  taken  by  the 
Eddy  woman.  An  unquestioning  belief,  which 
in  its  naivete  is  almost  touching,  leads  him  to 
hold  that  all  utterances  of  the  Old  as  well  as  of 
the  New  Testament  are  direct  revelations  of  God. 
The  further  consequence  of  this  constancy  of 
faith  is  the  desire  to  believe  and  to  follow  every- 
thing that  is  contained  in  the  Bible,  to  the 
widest  extent  and  with  the  closest  adherence  to 
the  wording  of  the  book.  And  as  the  book  of  Exo- 
dus, xv  :  26,  states,  UI  am  the  Lord  that  healeth 
thee, ' '  and  in  the  Epistle  to  James,  v  :  14-16, 
prayer  is  recommended  as  the  best  remedy  in 
diseases,  Dowie  concludes  that  prayer  must  be 
resorted  to  as  the  sole  means  of  treating  and  cur- 
ing all  forms  of  disease.  Prayer  is  declared  by 
him  to  be  much  more  efficacious,  in  surgical 
cases,  than  the  skill  of  the  most  experienced 
operator. 

Dowie,  therefore,  occupies  exactly  the  same 
standpoint  as  the  Christians  of  the  first  centuries 

87 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

after  Christ,  who  also  believed  that  prayer  would 
render  the  best  assistance  in  all  ailments  of  the 
body.  Twenty  centuries,  therefore,  with  all 
their  immense  advance  in  the  training  of  thought 
and  in  the  recognition  of  nature,  have  not  been 
able  to  rid  humanity  of  the  conception  that  the 
omnipotence  of  God,  among  many  other  manifes- 
tations, is  to  busy  itself  in  the  daily  regulation 
of  the  human  body  with  all  its  numerous  func- 
tions. Wherever  this  conception  obtains  a  firm 
foothold  superstition,  with  its  acts  of  miraculous 
healing,  never  fails  to  follow.  Accordingly,  all 
historic  periods  of  our  cultural  development,  in 
which  the  theocratic  belief  has  been  on  the 
ascendant,  are  characterized  by  an  excessive 
development  of  medical  superstition. 


IV 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  PHILOSOPHY  UPON  THE 

FORM  AND  ORIGIN  OF  MEDICAL 

SUPERSTITION 

THE  idea  that  philosophy  has  exerted  any  ma- 
terial influence  upon  superstition  in  medicine 
may  appear  strange  to  many.  For  how  can  it 
be  possible  that  the  science  which  teaches  the 
laws  of  thought,  which  regulates  our  entire  men- 
tal activity  and  guides  it  in  the  right  direction, 
which  points  out  to  us  the  intricate  path  of  med- 
ical theory  and  diagnosis — how  is  it  possible  that 
just  this  science  should  either  take  or  have  taken 
part  in  misleading  or  obscuring  our  medical  per- 
ception? We  do  not  by  any  means  intend  to 
impute  any  such  effect  to  philosophy.  Quite 
the  contrary  !  We  are  thoroughly  aware  of  the 
great  influence  which  philosophy  is  entitled  to 
claim  in  all  sciences  without  exception,  and  for 
this  reason  we  believe  that  modern  represent- 
atives of  medical  science  would  be  much  better 
off  if  they  were  a  little  less  at  variance  with, 
philosophy  than  they  actually  are. 

In  the  wide  realm  of  philosophy  there  are  only 

89 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

certain  points  where  we  can  detect  a  tendency  to 
promote  the  development  of  medical  supersti- 
tion. This  tendency  appears  in  all  endeavors 
which  are  made  to  explain  natural  phenomena 
solely  in  a  speculative  manner,  or  to  build  a 
theory  of  life  upon  a  base  of  pure  assumptions. 
Whenever  such  attempts  were  made  manifest,  and 
impressed  philosophy  into  their  service  under  the 
name  of  natural  philosophy,  it  resulted  in  the 
wide  predominance  of  medical  superstition. 

It  is  well  known  that  all  prae-Socratic  philos- 
ophy aimed  at  the  discovery  of  a  single  principle 
as  underlying  and  explaining  all  the  phenomena 
of  nature.  But  in  spite  of  this  very  apparent 
tendency,  it  can  scarcely  be  accused  of  promot- 
ing medical  superstition ;  for  prae-Socratic 
philosophy  busied  itself  in  speculations  concern- 
ing terrestrial  phenomena.  Earth  and  air,  fire 
and  water,  cold  and  heat,  coming  into  being 
and  passing  away,  are  the  things  in  which  it 
endeavored  to  find  the  elemental  basis  of  nature 
with  its  multiform  phenomena.  But  upon  the 
study  of  medicine  these  endeavors  exercised,  for 
the  time  being,  a  liberalizing  influence.  They 
emancipated  it  from  the  repressive  grasp  of 
theism,  and  opened  up  the  way  for  an  exclu- 
sively natural  explanation  of  all  processes  of  the 
body,  in  health  as  well  as  in  sickness.  Unfor- 

90 


tunately  the  apparatus,  or  organon,  which  phi- 
losophy furnished  to  science  in  its  terrestrial 
phenomena  was  a  very  questionable  one,  inves- 
tigation of  the  conclusion  from  analogy  and  the 
deductive  method  being  of  extremely  little  value, 
either  in  medical  diagnosis  or  the  pursuit  of  nat- 
ural science.  For  this  reason  medicine  was  bound 
to  be  encumbered  with  countless  badly  founded 
hypotheses.  But  other  monstrous  guesses  at 
truth  could  not  fail  to  become  current.  Let  ns 
consider,  for  instance,  the  absurd  theory  which 
Heraclitus  of  Ephesus(500  B.C.)  has  propounded 
as  to  the  relations  between  wine  and  the  human 
soul.  As  the  soul,  according  to  this  philosopher, 
naturally  was  a  fiery  vapor,  and  the  drier 
and  the  more  fiery  it  remained  the  better,  the 
excessive  use  of  alcohol  would  not  be  advisable, 
in  that  the  abundant  infusion  of  fluids  causes 
the  soul  to  become  wet,  which  would  be  harmful 
to  its  fiery  nature,  as  fire  and  moisture  are  always 
incompatible.  Who  will  venture  to  deny  that 
it  was  from  his  opinion  regarding  the  use  of 
wine  that  Heraclitus  acquired  his  sobriquet  of 
" "Whining  Philosopher"? 

But  curious  as  were  all  the  hypotheses  with 
which  Hellenic  natural  philosophy  foisted  upon 
medicine,  they  should  by  no  means  be  confound- 
ed with  superstition,  for  even  a  baseless  hypoth- 

91 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

esis  is  far  removed  from  superstition.  Other- 
wise, medicine  and  superstition  would  be  almost 
identical  conceptions,  for  baseless  hypotheses 
have  at  no  time  been  wanting  in  our  science. 
Superstition,  so  far  as  its  sources  are  found  in 
philosophy,  did  not  enter  medical  science  until 
philosophy  sought  for  an  explanation  of  the 
various  processes  of  life  not  only  in  material  but 
also  in  immaterial  forces.  And  as  Indian  as  well 
as  Persian  philosophy,  in  the  earliest  period  of 
its  existence  known  to  us,  had  already  found  in 
demons  the  immaterial  elements  which  to  a  great 
extent  control  the  processes  of  life  in  man,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  relations  between  philoso- 
phy and  medical  superstition  are  quite  old.  The 
Hellenic  poets  and  philosophers,  Homer,  Hesiod, 
Empedocles,  Democritus,  and  Plato,  elaborated 
this  immemorial  doctrine  of  demons  and  intro- 
duced it  into  Greece.  But  the  recognition  of 
immaterial,  supernatural  curative  factors  did  not 
attain  any  considerable  and  determining  influ- 
ence in  ancient  medicine  until  the  year  150  B.C., 
when,  under  the  eager  advocacy  of  Alexandrian 
Jews,  Oriental  and  Occidental  doctrines  became 
amalgamated  to  a  coherent  system  of  theo- 
sophic  and  medical  mysticism.  Medicine  suf- 
fered greatly  for  centuries  from  this  mysticism, 
which  prevailed  late  in  the  middle  ages  and  even 

92 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPEBSTITION 

up  to  more  recent  times.  The  center  of  all  the 
various  forms  under  which  speculations  in  the 
philosophical  and  theosophical  domain  made 
their  appearance  was  Alexandria,  the  great  cen- 
tral point  of  culture  in  which  the  civilization  of 
the  Orient  and  the  Occident  were  united  in  the 
evolution  of  a  new  theory  of  life.  But  that  the 
birthplace  of  developments  so  momentous  for 
the  future  of  medicine  should  be  Alexandria 
almost  suggests  the  thought  that  the  writers  of 
history  were  indulging  in  a  satire  upon  medical 
science  ;  for  it  is  well  known  that  Alexandria 
was  the  very  place  where  medical  enlightenment 
and  the  progress  of  ancient  medicine  won  their 
greatest  triumphs  under  the  renowned  anato- 
mists, Herophilus  and  Erasistratus. 

Such  speculations  in  theosophical  and  medical 
domains  at  first  were  most  eagerly  entered  upon 
by  the  Jewish  sects  of  the  Essenians,  or  Essenes, 
and  Therapeutae.  According  to  the  description 
which  Josephtis  (Book  2,  Chapter  II.,  page  13) 
has  left  us  of  these  two  sects,  they  were  theo- 
sophical communists.  We,  as  physicians,  how- 
ever, are  principally  interested  in  the  position 
they  took  with  regard  to  our  profession,  and 
that  was  one  of  indifference.  They  believed  that 
they  should  not  obtain  their  knowledge  of  the 
body,  either  in  health  or  in  disease,  by  observa- 

93 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

tion,  on  which  physicians  relied.  They  believed 
they  could  actually  learn  the  art  of  healing  from 
a  study  of  their  old  Sacred  Scriptures.  For  that 
reason  they  especially  applied  themselves  to 
make  a  diligent  examination  of  these  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. They  believed  that  they  were  able,  by 
various  allegorical  interpretations  of  different 
letters  and  words,  as  well  as  by  subtle  explana- 
tions of  this  or  that  sentence,  to  acquire  the 
knowledge  necessary  for  the  treatment  of  their 
patients.  Those,  however,  who  had  become  im- 
bued with  this  wisdom  of  dotage  in  an  especial 
degree,  claimed  the  possession  of  numerous 
miraculous  powers — for  instance,  that  of  predic- 
tion. But  as  they  also  believed  in  the  existence 
of  beings  who,  while  they  were  lower  than  God, 
at  the  same  time  were  higher  than  man,  they 
had,  ready  at  hand,  the  rarest  resources  to  draw 
upon  for  the  practise  of  their  juggling  feats  of 
miraculous  medicine.  The  belief  in  these  mys- 
tical doctrines  took  the  most  extravagant  forms. 
Thus,  for  instance,  it  was  believed  that  a  man  by 
the  evacuation  of  feces  offered  an  insult  to  divin- 
ity (rdS  avydS  vfipftetv  rov  Qeov,  says  Josephus, 

lib.  2,  Chapter  VIII.,  No.  9,  §  15).  For  that 
reason  nobody  might  dare,  on  the  Sabbath,  to 
comply  with  such  demands  of  nature.  But 
whether  the  call  of  nature  always  yielded  to 

94 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPERSTITION 

these  rather  far-reaching  requirements  of  the 
law,  or  how  the  believer  helped  himself  when 
the  extremely  disagreeable  dissension  between 
nature  and  faith  caused  too  much  uneasiness, 
is  not  reported  either  by  Josephus  or  by  Por- 
phyrius.  Besides,  the  Essenians  had  their 
troubles  even  on  week-days  in  attending  to  final 
phases  of  the  digestive  process,  in  that  it  was 
incumbent  upon  them  to  conceal  the  termination 
of  the  act  of  digestion  from  the  view  of  the 
Supreme  Being  by  covering  themselves  with  a 
cloak. 

Subsequently,  during  the  first  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  appeared  Neo-Pythagorism,  an  at- 
tempt to'  combine  monotheism  with  the  ancient 
fantastic  cult  of  subordinate  gods  and  demons. 
Then  followed  a  period  of  momentous  impor- 
tance for  medicine  ;  for  the  attempt  to  displace 
the  physico-mechanical  conception  of  corporeal 
phenomena  by  various  ideas  of  theosophic  ca- 
price, and  to  bring  therapeutics  once  more  under 
the  domination  of  the  metaphysic  methods, 
prevalent  in  the  days  when  the  theistic  theory  of 
life  held  undisputed  sway  in  medicine  and  nat- 
ural sciences,  became  more  and  more  apparent. 
The  Neo-Pythagoreans  acted  upon  the  principle 
that  the  practise  of  medicine  was  absolutely  in- 
dispensable to  the  true  philosopher,  and  that 

95 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

every  one,  therefore,  provided  he  had  attained 
the  required  fitness  by  his  intercourse  with  de- 
mons, was  able  to  act  as  a  physician.  It  is 
quite  obvious  that  such  ideas  were  bound  to  pave 
the  way  for  the  most  abominable  abuse  and  su- 
perstitions, and,  naturally,  what  the  Neo-Pytha- 
goreans  offered  as  the  art  of  healing  to  the 
patients  was  nothing  but  a  mixture  of  mysterious 
customs,  conjurations,  and  witchcraft.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  followers  of  this  school  of  phi- 
losophy did  much  to  promote  the  bodily  welfare 
of  their  fellow  men,  in  that  they  urged  them  to 
lead  a  pure  and  temperate  life,  while  they  them- 
selves appear  to  have  adhered  strictly  to  this 
regime. 

The  chief  representative  of  Neo-Pythagorism 
was  Apollonius,  of  Tyana,  in  Cappodocia,  prob- 
ably one  of  the  most  fantastic  personages  of  all 
Greek  and  Eoman  antiquity.  Venerated  as  a 
god  by  some  of  his  contemporaries,  such  as 
Damis  and  Philostratus,  his  biographers,  on  ac- 
count of  his  wisdom  and  of  his  extraordinary 
works,  he  is  considered  by  others,  on  the  other 
hand,  as  a  magician  engaged,  like  a  common 
charlatan,  in  conjuring  tricks.  The  opinions 
which  posterity,  down  to  modern  times,  has 
passed  on  Apollouius  are  of  a  similar  nature. 
There  are  some  who  consider  the  Tyanian  to  be 

96 


PHILOSOPHY  AXD  SUPEESTITIOX 

a  crafty  magician,  whereas  others  declare  that 
he  is  an  important  personality  in  the  history  of 
religion.  Among  these  latter  is  Baur,  who  at- 
tempts to  explain  the  life  and  the  deeds  of  the 
wonder-working  Neo-Pythagorean  by  citing  as  a 
parallel  the  impression  created  by  Christianity 
upon  some  enlightened  minds. 

Personally,  I  consider  this  high  estimate  of  a 
trickster  to  be  perfectly  absurd.  Apollonius,  as 
we  meet  him  in  the  celebrated  description  of 
Philostratus,  is  a  purely  poetical  idealization, 
prompted  by  a  desire  to  delay  the  downfall  of 
ancient  religion,  pointing  to  the  reform  which  has 
been  instituted  in  its  moral  tendencies  (Gre- 
gorovius,  page  413). 

Apollonius  flourished  in  the  first  Christian 
century,  during  the  reigns  of  Xero  and  of  the 
succeeding  emperors  up  to  Kerva,  who  appears 
to  have  been  in  very  close  relations  with  him. 
The  accounts  of  Philostratus  regarding  the 
adventures  of  our  hero,  based  as  they  are  upon 
the  early  authorities  accessible  to  him,  ab- 
solutely create  the  impression  that  heathen  an- 
tiquity meant  in  Apollonius  to  set  a  counterpart 
of  Christ.  According  to  ancient  reports,  a  super- 
natural apparition  visited  his  mother,  apprizing 
her  that  she  would  bear  a  god,  and  after  his 
death  Apollonius  appeared  to  his  disciples  to 

97 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

announce  to  them  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
The  time  between  the  birth  and  death  of  the 
Tyanian  was  spent  by  him  in  restless  wanderings 
over  the  then  known  world.  Wherever  he  went 
he  conversed  on  the  deepest  subjects  with  priests 
and  cultured  laymen,  and  upon  request  he  also 
performed  miracles  of  various  kinds.  Naturally, 
we  are  only  interested  in  the  medical  perform- 
ances of  the  wandering  philosopher,  and  of  these 
he  is  credited  with  a  considerable  number.  He 
cured  the  lame  simply  by  stroking  the  affected 
limbs;  with  equal  facility  he  gave  sight  to  the 
blind — in  fact,  he  even  attended  to  obstetrical 
cases  without  fear  and  trepidation.  For  instance, 
when  the  husband  of  a  woman  who  had  borne 
seven  children,  but  always  with  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty, came  to  Apollonius,  sadly  telling  him  that 
his  wife  was  again  in  labor  and  nobody  was  able 
to  help  her,  the  man  of  miracles  told  him  to  be  of 
good  cheer.  "Without  even  examining  the  woman 
for  a  possible  narrow  pelvis,  or  for  some  other 
obstacle  to  birth,  he  simply  advised  the  husband 
to  procure,  as  soon  as  possible,  a  living  hare,  and, 
with  this  hare  in  his  arms,  to  walk  round  and 
round  the  woman  in  labor,  and  then  allow  the 
hare  to  run  away.  This  one  sample  of  his  med- 
ical activity  is  sufficient  to  characterize  Apollo- 
nius as  a  charlatan  of  the  most  contemptible  class. 

98 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPEESTITIO^ 

When  we  learn,  further,  that  he  raised  the  dead 
without  any  difficulty,  nobody  will  probably  ac- 
cuse us  of  an  unjust  opinion  if  we  pronounce  this 
philosopher,  who  was  revered  as  a  god  by  the 
heathen,  a  magician  of  the  worst  kind. 

In  order  duly  to  enhance  his  authority  Apol- 
lonius  arrogated  to  himself  certain  mysterious 
powers.  Thus,  he  pretended  that  he  was  able 
to  speak  all  languages  without  having  ever 
learned  them;  in  fact,  this  philological  talent 
even  extended  to  the  languages  of  the  animals, 
which  he  undertook  to  master.  We  are  scarcely 
surprised  to  learn,  when  we  consider  the  powers 
bestowed  upon  him,  that  he  knew  the  future,  and 
was  thoroughly  aware  of  what  happened  at  the 
same  time  at  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  world. 
He  also  endeavored  to  bear  witness  to  his  voca- 
tion as  a  man  of  God  by  his  manner  of  living 
and  of  dressing.  Thus  he  was  always  attired  in 
white  linen  garments,  and  walked  about  with 
long,  flowing  hair,  followed  by  his  disciples.  He 
never  ate  meat,  never  partook  of  wine,  and  dis- 
dained love.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  in 
the  last  particular  he  was  not  quite  consistent — 
at  least,  various  erotic  adventures  are  related 
of  him. 

The  manner  in  which  Apollonius  cast  out  a 
demon  in  India  is  extremely  amusing.  A  woman 

99 


SUPEKSTITION  IK  MEDICIXE 

came,  lamenting  and  crying,  to  the  medical  mir- 
acle worker,  and  asked  him  to  deliver  her  sixteen- 
year-old  son  from  an  evil  spirit.  Apollonius  at 
once  gave  her  a  letter  directed  to  the  evil  spirit 
which  contained,  as  Philostratus  emphasizes 
particularly,  the  most  terrible  threats  against  the 
good-for-nothing  tormentor.  But  the  biographer 
does  not  tell  us  whether  the  reading  of  this  let- 
ter caused  the  demon  to  desist  from  his  improper 
behavior. 

But  as  even  in  a  man  of  miracles  the  hour-glass 
of  life  finally  is  emptied,  so  also  a  time  came 
when  Apollonius  realized  that  he  must  pay  his  last 
debt  to  nature.  But  the  Tyanian  knew  how  to 
surround  even  the  act  of  dying  with  a  halo  of  the 
extraordinary.  As  a  matter  or  fact,  he  did  not 
die;  but  one  day — if  it  is  permissible  to  employ 
a  trivial  expression  in  speaking  of  a  demi-god — 
he  evaporated  without  anybody  knowing  what 
had  become  of  him.  This  evaporation  occurred 
in  the  following  manner.  There  was  in  Crete  a 
temple  of  Dictynna  so  securely  guarded  by 
vicious  dogs  that  no  one  dared  to  approach. 
This  temple  was  entered  by  Apollonius,  whom 
the  furious  dogs  left  unmolested;  but,  after  the 
doors  of  the  sanctuary  had  closed  behind  the 
Pythagorean,  suddenly  there  resounded  female 
voices  singing  from  the  depth  of  the  temple: 

100 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPEESTITION 

11  Leave  the  earth!  Go  heavenward!"  With 
these  sounds  and  words  Apollonius  disappeared 
forever.  Thns  his  last  medical  act  was  a  sleight- 
of-hand  performance,  in  that  he  even  snapped 
his  fingers  at  death. 

The  grateful  heathen  world  of  antiquity 
rendered  divine  honors  to  Apollonius.  In  his 
birth-place,  Tyana,  a  temple  was  erected  in 
his  honor  at  imperial  expense,  and  the  priests 
everywhere  erected  statues  to  a  philosopher 
who  had  left  this  world  without  dying;  in  fact, 
even  the  Emperor  Alexander  Severus  set  up 
an  image  of  Apollonius  in  his  lararium,  or 
domestic  chapel.  And  thus  to  medical  super- 
stition was  accorded  a  triumph  which  no 
legitimate  practitioner  of  any  age  has  ever  en- 
joyed. 

These  theosophic  vagaries  reached  their  climax 
in  Neo-Platonism,  which  was  founded  toward  the 
end  of  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era 
by  the  Alexandrian  porter,  Ammonius  (175  to 
242),  and  was  further  elaborated  by  Plotinus 
(204  to  269).  This  religious,  philosophical  sys- 
tem is  of  very  particular  interest  in  the  history 
of  medicine  in  that,  in  the  first  place,  it  stands 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  physico -mechanical 
conception  of  disease,  and,  explaining  sickness 
from  a  theistic  standpoint  as  a  logical  conse- 

101 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

quence,  rejects  the  treatment  of  disease  by  pro- 
fessional physicians. 

Now  this  theistic  conception  of  disease  was 
based  primarily  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
universe  is  filled  with  countless  demons,  spirits 
which,  altho  essentially  superior  to  man,  are  in- 
ferior to  God.  Such  a  demon  was  supposed  to 
be  the  "spiritus  rector  "  of  all  terrestrial  occur- 
rences, especially  all  evil  events  were  attributed 
to  him.  on  avroi  atrioi  yiyvofievoi  TWV  Uspi 
TTJV  yrjv  KaSrjjAa.Tooy,  otov  XoiftKiv,  d3>optc£v, 
6et<3fj.(3v,  avxv&v  Kai  TK>Y  ouoitav  (Porphyrius 
de  Abst.,  lib.  2,  40).  As  the  demons  played 
havoc  with  the  condition  of  the  human  body, 
protection  against  them  could  not  be  expected 
from  a  professional  physician,  but  only  from 
some  one  well  versed  in  all  their  tricks  and 
devices,  and,  therefore,  alone  able  to  punish 
them  thoroughly  for  their  mischievous  behavior. 
This  taming  of  the  demon  could  be  accomplished 
in  various  ways.  Porphyrius  enumerates  three 
methods  of  gaining  an  influence  over  the  host 
of  demons. 

The  first  and  principal  method  (theosophy)  at- 
tempted to  attain  the  most  intimate  union  with 
God.  Prayer,  abstraction  of  all  thought  from 
things  earthly,  and  absorption  in  God  were  sup- 
posed to  be  the  means  of  participation  in  certain 

102 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPEBST1T1ON 

divine  powers.  Aii  individual  thus  favored  was 
enabled  in  a  trice  to  restore  health  to  incurable 
patients,  such  as  the  blind,  the  deaf,  and  the 
lame,  and  even  the  power  of  raising  the  dead 
was  conferred  upon  him.  However,  the  acqui- 
sition of  such  extraordinary  powers  demanded 
certain  qualifications  of  a  rather  exacting  and 
terrestrial  character.  It  was  incumbent  upon 
such  an  applicant  for  these  special  gifts  to  ab- 
stain from  the  use  of  meat,  and,  above  all,  from 
the  society  of  women.  How  many  were  deterred 
by  these  fastidious  requirements  from  choosing 
the  career  of  a  famous  man  of  miracles  we  do  not 
know.  Nothing  is  reported  on  this  subject  by 
the  pillars  of  Neo-Platonism  (as,  Plotinus,  Por- 
phyrius,  Damascius,  Jamblichus),  nor  do  they 
state  whether  they  themselves  absolutely  ab- 
stained from  meat  and  from  the  society  of 
women. 

Theurgy  was  the  second  method  of  counteract- 
ing the  evil  influence  of  demons.  In  this  way 
good  demons  were  urged  by  prayer  and  offerings 
to  ward  off  disease  or  other  misfortune. 

By  the  third  method  (goety)  attempts  were 
made  to  dispel  the  evil  demons  by  conjurations 
and  various  kinds  of  mystical  mummery.  These 
mysterious  accessories  consisted  mostly  in  mut- 
tering any  number  of  words  as  meaningless  as 

103 


SUPEESTITIOX  IN  MEDICINE 

possible.  The  more  meaningless  and  the  more 
unintelligible  were  these  words  the  more  effica- 
cious— according  to  the  assurance  of  Jamblichus 
— they  would  prove,  especially  when  they  were 
taken  from  Oriental  languages.  For,  as  Jambli- 
chus says,  the  Oriental  languages  are  the  most 
ancient — therefore,  the  most  agreeable  to  the 
gods.  In  such  a  manner  words  utterly  nonsen- 
sical were  drawled  out  at  the  bedside,  and,  for 
greater  security,  written  on  tablets  to  be  hung 
round  the  neck  of  the  patient.  The  magic  word 
"  abracadabra  "  enjoyed  especial  respect.  To 
render  its  power  certain  it  was  written  as  many 
times  as  it  has  letters,  omitting  the  last  letter 
each  time  until  only  one  remained,  and  placing 
the  words  in  such  a  succession  as  to  form  an 
equilateral  triangle.  A  tablet  thus  inscribed  was 
worn  around  the  neck  of  the  sufferer  as  an  amu- 
let. It  may  be  that  this  wonder-working  word 
has  arisen  from  the  word  " abraxas,"  with  which 
the  gnostic  Basilides  meant  to  designate  the 
aggregate  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
forms  of  revelation  of  divinity  which  he  as- 
sumed to  exist.  Numerous  other  explanations 
are  in  vogue,  however,  with  regard  to  this  med- 
ical, magic  term  (compare  Haser,  Vol.  I.,  page 
433).  Very  ancient  magic  words  which  had 
originated  in  the  earliest  periods  of  Hellenism 

104 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPEBSTITION 

were  revived.  Thus,  to  banish  disease,  certain 
words  were  employed  which  were  said  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  temple  of  Artemis  in  Ephesus, 
and  which  read  :  0.6^1,  Karddxi,  Az'e,  rerpae, 
Sativajuevev's,  ad'dtiov.  The  meaning  of  these 
words,  according  to  the  explanation  of  the  Py- 
thagorean, Androcydes,  was  :  darkness,  light, 
earth,  air,  sun,  truth.  Besides,  the  attempt  was 
made  to  obtain  directly  from  the  demons  such 
magic  words  as  were  endowed  with  curative 
power.  For  such  purposes  small  children  were 
employed,  in  whom  it  was  supposed  that  the 
demons  preferred  to  be  present,  and  expressed 
themselves  through  their  mouths.  Such  chil- 
dren, therefore,  played  a  similar  part  as  does  a 
medium  with  modern  spiritualists.  The  sense- 
less stuff  babbled  by  such  a  child  was  considered 
the  immediate  manifestation  of  a  demon,  and 
was  accordingly  utilized  to  banish  the  demons 
which  brought 'on  disease.  Moreover,  the  non- 
sensical practise  which  was  carried  on  by  the 
Neo-Platonists  by  letter  and  word  was  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  accepted  by  professional  physicians. 
It  had  become  a  very  common  custom  with 
physicians  to  apply  various  kinds  of  bombastic 
names  to  all  their  various  plasters  and  oint- 
ments, powders,  and  pills.  It  is  necessary  only 
to  cast  a  glance  upon  the  ancient  pharmacopoeia 

105 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

to  find  the  most  curious  names.  Galen  mentions 
disapprovingly  the  fact  that  Egyptian  and  Baby- 
lonian expressions  were  preferred  in  the  nomen- 
clature of  medicine  (De  Simpl.  Medicamento- 
rum  Facult,  Lib.  Sic.  Preface). 

Such  were  the  methods  with  which  the  Neo- 
Platonists  did  not  hesitate  to  treat  the  sick ;  and 
not  only  minor  practitioners,  but  even  the  leaders 
of  the  entire  movement,  preferred  banishing  dis- 
ease by  means  of  various  kinds  of  magic  formulae 
to  all  other  specially  medical  methods  of  treat- 
ment. Thus,  for  instance,  Eunapius  of  Sardis 
(about  400)  recounts  how  Plotinus,  one  of  the 
most  gifted  of  the  Neo-Platonic  school,  repeat- 
edly proved  himself  to  be  a  medical  miracle- 
worker,  most  conspicuously  during  the  sickness 
of  Porphyrius.  When  the  latter,  a  favorite  dis- 
ciple of  Plotinus,  was  traveling  through  Sicily 
he  became  dangerously  ill — in  fact,  according  to 
the  description  of  Eunapius,  he  was  actually 
breathing  his  last.  Then  Plotinus  appeared,  and 
by  magic  words  cured  the  dying  man  instantly. 
It  appears,  moreover,  that  Plotinus  did  not  only 
operate  with  wonder-working  words,  but  he  em- 
ployed still  other  agencies — as,  for  instance,  mys- 
terious figures  (oxrj^ara.  Villoison,  Anecd. 
grseca,  Vol.  II.,  page  231).  Plotinus  was  even 
said  to  possess  his  own  demon,  who  was  at  his 

106 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPERSTITION 

disposal  alone,  and  by  the  aid  of  whom  he  per- 
formed other  wonders — as,  for  instance,  that  of 
prophesying. 

Porphyrius,  probably  the  most  notable  disciple 
of  the  Neo -Platonic  school  after  Plotinus,  claimed 
even  that  the  demons  personally  taught  him  to 
expel,  with  certainty  and  despatch,  those  patho- 
genic demons.  It  was  claimed  by  him  that  Chal- 
dean  and  Hebrew  words  and  songs  were  the 
promptest  means  of  turning  out  ah1  these  evil 
spirits ;  in  fact,  the  philosopher,  Alexander  of 
Abonoteichos,  in  Paphlagonia,  was  of  the  opin- 
ion that  a  pestilence,  which  was  devastating 
Italy,  could  not  be  checked  by  any  better  means 
than  that  of  affixing  to  the  doors  of  the 
infected  towns  and  villages  the  sentence : 
"  Phoebus,  the  hair  unshorn,  dispels  the  clouds 
of  disease. ' ' 

Thus  the  last  great  system  into  which  the  an- 
cient philosophy  developed  was  attended  by  the 
unfortunate  result  of  a  very  material  increase  of 
superstition  in  the  healing  art.  This  recru- 
descence of  medical  superstition  was  by  no  means 
a  transitory  one,  but  proved  exceedingly  per- 
sistent ;  in  fact,  we  may  unhesitatingly  main- 
tain that  from  that  time  superstition  never  again 
disappeared  from  our  science.  This  is  princi- 
pally the  fault  of  the  position  which  Christianity 

107 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

took  with  regard  to  demonology  and  the  other 
fantastic  ideas  of  Neo-Platonism. 

Early  Christianity,  from  the  outset,  was  sub- 
jected to  the  influence  of  ancient  false  ideas  on 
the  subject  of  demons.  Without  making  any 
modifications  whatever,  it  had  appropriated  this 
false  doctrine,  and  had  deduced  from  it  the  same 
medical  notions  as  paganism  had  done.  The 
New  Testament  exhibits  numerous  examples  of 
a  prevailing  belief  that  supernatural  beings — 
i.e.,  demons — were  frequently  the  cause  of  bodily 
ailments ;  and  as  Christ  and  His  disciples  had 
often  cured  such  patients,  it  follows  that  the  be- 
lief in  demons  and  their  relations  to  pathology 
must  have  been  widely  disseminated  among  the 
Christians  of  that  period.  The  Church  Fathers 
also  bear  witness  to  this  fact,  as  they,  in  their 
writings,  acknowledge,  in  plain  terms,  the  belief 
in  demons  as  causes  of  disease.  Justin  Martyr, 
Tatian,  Tertullian,  Origen,  Augustin,  all  men- 
tion demons  and  their  power  over  the  human 
body  (compare  Harnack,  Chapter  V.,  page  68, 
etc.,  where  these  conditions  are  most  lucidly  de- 
picted). Thus,  for  instance,  St.  Augustine  says: 
"Accipiunt  (scilicet  dcemones)  enim  scepe  potesta- 
tem  et  morbos  immittere  et  ipsum  aerem  vitiando  mor- 
bidum  reddere." 

And,  indeed,  early  Christianity  not  only  ac- 

108 


PHILOSOPHY  AND   SUPERSTITION 

cepted  pagan  demonology  unchanged,  it  even 
increased  the  therapeutic  aspect  of  this  delusion 
in  a  most  regrettable  manner.  This  belief  in 
demons,  under  the  influence  of  Christian  doc- 
trines, developed  into  an  epidemic  of  insanity 
which  prevailed  unrestrictedly  for  two  or  three 
centuries,  and  which  was  again  awakened  in  the 
late  middle  ages,  to  grow  at  last  into  one  of  the 
most  terrible  aberrations  of  the  human  mind — 
into  the  belief  in  witches. 

This  epidemic  derangement  of  the  mind,  to 
which  the  belief  in  demons  tended,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Christian  doctrines,  culminated  in  the 
patient' s  manifest  idea  that  he  was  possessed  of 
a  demon.  The  mental  disturbance  set  in  with 
wild,  spasmodic  attacks  of  excitement,  and,  as  it 
occurred  not  only  in  individual  cases,  but  was 
also  contagious,  we  must  not  hesitate  to  desig- 
nate this  belief  of  the  first  three  centuries  in 

f 

demoniac  possession  an  epidemic  disease.  It 
was  an  affection,  the  mental  substratum  of  which 
consisted  in  a  mixture  of  overheated  religious 
sentiment  and  unrestrained  medical  superstition. 
The  extent  to  which  this  belief  in  demoniac  pos- 
session was  disseminated  during  the  first  centu- 
ries of  the  Christian  era  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  a  number  of  persons  busied  themselves  with 
the  cure  of  this  affection.  In  the  first  place, 

109 


most  Christian  communities  owned  an  exorcist, 
or  official  caster-out  of  demons.  It  seems  that 
this  profession  of  exorcists  formed  a  clerical 
order  of  its  own;  for,  as  all  pagans,  according  to 
the  Christian  conception,  were  in  the  power  of 
evil  spirits,  these  demons  were  to  be  thoroughly 
driven  out  before  each  baptism,  and  thus  the  in- 
stitution of  a  special  church  officer,  whose  duty 
it  was  to  drive  out  demons,  became  absolutely 
necessary,  especially  after  exorcism  had  also  been 
introduced,  during  the  fourth  century,  in  the 
baptism  of  children.  It  may  be  stated,  inciden- 
tally, that  Catholic  clergy  of  the  third  minor 
order  are  even  to-day  called  " exorcists." 

The  Christian  exorcists,  in  conjuring,  only 
made  use  of  prayer  and  of  the  name  of  Christ ; 
these  two  factors  were  considered  sufficient  to 
cure  the  patient  of  his  delusions,  and  they  ac- 
tually did  so.  Why  they  accomplished  a  cure 
has  been  explained  very  strikingly  by  Harnack. 
He  says:  "  It  is  not  the  prayer  that  cures,  but 
the  praying  person;  not  the  formula,  but  the 
spirit;  not  exorcism,  but  the  exorcist.  Only  in 
those  cases  in  which  the  disease,  as  in  numerous 
cases  of  the  second  century,  had  become  epidemic 
and  almost  common,  did  ordinary  and  conven- 
tional means  avail.  The  exorcist  became  a  mes- 
rnerizer,  possibly  a  deceived  deceiver.  But 

110 


when  strong  individuality  is  deceived  concerning 
its  own  personality  by  the  demon  of  terror,  and 
the  soul  is  actually  shaken  by  the  power  of  dark- 
ness which  possesses  it,  and  from  which  it  pur- 
poses to  escape,  a  powerful  and  holy  will  alone 
can  interfere  from  the  outside  world  to  deliver 
the  shackled  will.  In  some  cases  we  find  traces 
of  a  phenomenon  wrhich  in  modern  times,  for 
want  of  some  better  name,  has  been  called  '  sug- 
gestion ' ;  but  the  prophet  suggests  in  a  different 
manner  than  does  the  professional  exorcist. ' ' 

Besides  these  official  Christian  exorcists,  a 
great  multitude  of  other  persons  carried  on  the 
trade  of  conjurer  of  demons.  The  sorcerers  and 
magicians  who  plied  their  nefarious  trade  for 
the  cure  of  the  possessed  and  for  those  suf- 
fering from  other  diseases,  worked  with  various 
kinds  of  mystic  signs  and  ceremonies,  and  they 
certainly  did  an  excellent  business,  for  he  who 
humors  the  superstition  and  the  stupidity  of  man 
always  prospers.  Modern  quackery  illustrates 
this  most  strikingly.  But,  besides  these  healers, 
there  existed  numerous  other  conjurers  of  demons 
and  medical  wonder-workers  who  plied  their 
trade  not  for  the  sake  of  contemptible  mammon, 
but  solely  for  ethical  reasons.  These  were  the 
members  of  the  various  theosophico-philosophical 
sects,  who  were  active  during  the  first  Christian 

111 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

centuries  and  have  been  exhaustively  described 
on  the  previous  pages. 

Altho  Christians  were  eager  to  exalt  their  ex- 
orcists, who  worked  only  with  prayer  and  the 
invocation  of  Christ,  above  all  practises  of  sor- 
cery, they  were  not  able,  in  the  long  run,  to  pre- 
vent Christian  dogmas  from  being  confounded 
with  and  corrupted  by  those  of  philosophy. 
Under  the  influence  of  Saturninus,  Basilides,  and 
Carpocrates,  the  various  philosophical  vagaries 
concerning  accessory,  intermediary,  and  inferior 
gods,  and  their  influences  upon  the  fate  of  man, 
corrupted  the  pure  and  simple  teachings  of 
Christ.  That  error  against  which  Paul  had  so 
impressively  cautioned  the  early  Christian  com- 
munities in  his  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  Chapter 
II.,  verse  8  (a  Be  ware  lest  any  man  spoil  you 
through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after  the 
tradition  of  men,  after  the  rudiments  of  the 
world,  and  not  after  Christ"),  had,  nevertheless, 
made  its  appearance  at  last,  and  the  adulteration 
of  pure  Gospel  by  philosophical  speculations  and 
fantastic  views  began  to  grow  more  complete 
from  the  third  century  on.  This  was  the  founda- 
tion of  the  religio-mystic  system  which,  during 
the  middle  ages,  and  even  beyond  the  period  of 
the  Eenaissance,  oppressed  humanity  like  a  suffo- 
cating nightmare,  and  not  only  checked  progress, 

112 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPEKSTITION 

but  also  filled  each  branch  of  human  knowledge 
with  the  most  frightful  superstition  and  the  crass- 
est mysticism.  This  was  the  case  also  in  medi- 
cine; in  fact,  this  branch  of  science  has  probably 
suffered  most  from  the  alliance  of  Christianity 
with  the  fantastic  doctrines  of  philosophical 
schools. 

The  ancient  doctrine  of  demons  passed  under 
the  influence  of  Christian  mysticism  through  cer- 
tain changes  and  transitions,  especially  in  its 
relation  to  the  bodily  condition  of  individuals. 
The  variations  in  this  doctrine  were  naturally 
most  plainly  evidenced  in  the  medical  views  of 
the  day.  It  was  believed  that  every  human  be- 
ing from  birth  was  allotted  a  good  and  an  evil 
demon.  The  good  spirit  held  his  hand  protect- 
ingly  over  his  human  charge,  whereas  the  evil 
demon  only  waited  his  chance  to  inflict  injury 
upon  man,  forming  especially  the  determining 
principle  in  the 'etiology  of  disease.  It  is  true, 
the  evil  spirits  apparently  were  no  longer  allowed 
to  have  such  full  sway  over  the  health  of  human- 
ity as  they  formerly  had.  God  now  utilized  them 
principally  as  executors  of  punishments  which 
he  intended  for  mankind  as  a  retribution  for 
various  forms  of  delinquency.  Thus  the  Church 
Father,  Anastasius  (Sprengel,  Vol.  II.,  page 210), 
tells  us  that  the  reason  why  so  many  lepers  and 

113 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

cripples  were  found  among  Christians  was  that 
God,  enraged  at  the  luxury  of  the  members  of 
the  community,  had  sent  the  evil  demon  of  dis- 
ease among  them.  The  wrath  of  God  from  that 
time  until  late  in  modern  times  has  been  consid- 
ered a  fully  efficacious  principle  of  pathology ; 
in  fact,  there  are  numbers  of  people  even  to-day 
who  believe  that  not  natural,  but  supernatural 
and  unearthly,  factors  are  active  in  the  bodily 
ailments  of  mankind. 

The  idea  of  good  and  evil  demons,  however, 
now  assumed  a  specifically  Christian  character 
which,  it  is  true,  greatly  resembled  the  ancient 
Babylonian  notion,  excepting  that  the  good  de- 
mons were  replaced  by  angels  and  saints,  whereas 
the  evil  spirits  were  embodied  in  the  devil.  Both, 
saints  as  well  as  devils,  were  thenceforth  destined 
to  play  a  part  in  the  domain  of  medicine.  It  is 
true,  the  general  recognition  which  they  enjoyed 
during  the  middle  ages  and  a  considerable  period 
of  modern  times  has  probably  now  passed  away, 
but  there  still  exist  numerous  classes  of  our  peo- 
ple in  whom  the  medical  r61e  of  saints  as  well  as 
devils  is  most  willingly  acknowledged. 

We  have  referred  elsewhere  to  the  therapeutic 
accomplishments  of  the  saints  during  the  middle 
ages.  We  will  here  only  dwell  upon  the  influ- 
ence which  the  devil,  the  Christian  successor 

114 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPERSTITION 

of  the  ancient  evil  spirit,  has  exerted  upon  the 
medical  views  of  all  classes  of  the  people.  This 
influence  was  very  great.  The  devil  and  his  sub- 
ordinate infernal  spirits  were  considered  the 
"  disturbers  of  peace  "  in  the  health  of  human- 
ity. Disease  in  its  various  forms  was  their  work; 
they  resolved  to  inflict  it  either  from  inherent  vil- 
lainy or  as  incited  by  various  magical  arts  of  evil 
men.  It  was  especially  the  latter  form  of  dia- 
bolical activity  that,  during  the  entire  middle 
ages  and  during  a  considerable  part  of  modern 
times,  was  accepted  as  uncontestedly  authentic, 
and  the  imagination  of  mankind  at  that  period 
was  inexhaustible  in  inventing  the  greatest  va- 
riety of  infamous  actions  which  the  devil  was 
able  to  perform  either  of  his  own  accord  or  as 
summoned  by  incantations.  Any  one  desiring  to 
acquaint  himself  thoroughly  with  these  delusive 
ideas  should  read  the  work  of  the  Friar  Csesarius, 
who  lived  about '1225,  in  the  Rhenish- Cistercian 
monastery  of  Heisterbach.  Naturally,  we  are  only 
interested  in  the  medical  acts  which  the  devil 
was  always  ready  to  perform.  According  to  the 
history  of  medical  superstition,  the  devil,  who 
was  invoked  by  various  spells  or  appeared  of 
his  own  volition,  was  able  to  influence  each  indi- 
vidual bodily  organ  in  a  manner  most  disagree- 
able to  the  possessor  of  the  same.  Neither  were 

115 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

the  Prince  of  Hell  and  his  hosts  always  satisfied 
to  tease  and  to  plague  an  invidual  being,  but 
very  frequently  they  carried  on  this  business 
wholesale.  They  threw  themselves  upon  the 
entire  population  of  a  country,  and  caused  sick- 
ness in  all  who  crossed  their  path.  The  great 
epidemic  of  St.  Vitus's  dance  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  for  instance,  was  considered  to  be  the 
work  of  the  devil,  and  the  clergy  busied  them- 
selves in  driving  out  this  devil's  pest  by  means 
of  sprinkling  holy  water  and  by  the  utterance  of 
conjuring  formulas. 

The  sexual  life  of  men  as  well  as  of  women 
offered  an  especially  fruitful  field  for  the  activity 
of  the  devil  and  of  his  infernal  companions. 
Thus,  it  was  a  favorite  trick  of  the  ruler  of  hell 
and  of  his  subordinate  demons  to  assume  the 
shape  of  the  husband  or  lover  of  this  or  that 
female,  and,  under  this  mask,  to  assume  rights 
which  should  be  permitted  only  to  the  husband. 
The  infernal  spirit  that  played  this  role  was 
called  Incubus.  Thus,  for  instance,  Hinkmer 
tells  us  of  a  nun  who  was  mischievously  claimed 
by  such  an  infernal  paramour,  and  who  could  be 
relieved  of  him  only  by  priestly  aid.  But  hell 
also  contained  female  constituents  who  played 
the  same  role  for  the  male  as  did  Incubus  for 
women.  Such  a  wanton  woman  of  hell  was 

116 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPEKSTITION 

called  Striga  or  Lamia  (compare  Hansen,  pages 
14  and  72).  These  amorous  female  friends  of 
hell  did  not  even  stop  when  they  met  eminent 
saints.  In  the  convent  of  St.  Benedetto,  near 
the  Italian  town  of  Subiaco,  a  rose-bush  is  shown 
even  to-day  into  which  the  naked  St.  Benedict 
threw  himself  in  order  to  resist  the  unholy  temp- 
tation. And  every  one  is  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  the  troubles  which  St.  Anthony  of  Padua 
had  with  these  infernal  women.  However,  we 
physicians  know  well  enough  the  cause  of  these 
temptations.  They  may  surely  and  actually 
have  approached  the  nun  of  whom  Hinkmer 
reports,  also  St.  Benedict  and  St.  Anthony;  how- 
ever, they  were  not  the  devil's  prostitutes,  but 
the  expressions  of  suppressed  and  disregarded 
impulses  of  nature  which,  in  the  form  of  volup- 
tuous imaginations,  appeared  before  the  eyes  of 
persons  removed  from  terrestrial  gratifications; 
for  nature  does  not  even  exempt  a  saint,  and 
the  ancient  saying,  "Naturam  expellas  furcd, 
tamen  usque  recurret,"  applies  to  them  as  well 
as  to  any  other  mortal. 

Finally  these  liberties  which  the  devil  and  his 
infernal  host  were  said  to  take  as  regards  matters 
pertaining  to  love,  assumed  general  and  quite 
serious  forms;  in  fact,  they  gave  rise  to  delicately 
contrived  legal  questions.  Namely,  the  idea  had 

117 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

suggested  itself  that  the  devil  was  able  not  only 
to  call  forth  promiscuous  love  between  men  and 
women,  but  that  sometimes  he  derived  a  par 
ticular  enjoyment  if  he  could  manage  to  prevent 
a  marriage  that  had  already  been  consummated 
by  rendering  the  husband  impotent.  Maleficium 
was  the  technical  term  for  such  an  event,  equally 
saddening  to  husband  as  to  wife,  and  the  theo- 
logians, philosophers,  and  jurists  of  the  middle 
ages  have  written  the  most  learned  commentaries 
regarding  the  legal  consequences  of  this  impotentia 
ex  malejicio.  It  was  disputed  whether  or  not 
this  form  of  impotence  would  constitute  a  legal 
cause  for  dissolution  of  marriage  which,  after 
all,  was  a  divine  institution;  the  reasons  also 
why  God  permitted  the  devil  to  play  such  a 
reprehensible  game  were  investigated  in  a  most 
serious  and  profound  manner.  Any  one  inter- 
ested in  this  question  of  impotentia  ex  malejicio 
may  read  the  most  excellent  description  of  this 
subject  by  Hansen  (Chapter  III.). 

This  impotentia  ex  malejicio — i.e.,  one  of  the 
most  extravagant  outgrowths  of  medical  super- 
stition— occasionally  also  gave  rise  to  scandalous 
lawsuits.  This  was  the  case  in  the  disgraceful 
divorce  suit  which  took  place  about  the  year  860 
between  King  Lothaire  II.  and  his  spouse  Teut- 
berga.  Lothaire  was  said  to  have  lost  his  procrea- 

118 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  SUPERSTITION 

tive  power  completely,  owing  to  infernal  artifices 
of  his  concubine,  "Waldrada.  The  reason  why  a 
concubine  should  undertake  such  a  step,  which, 
after  all,  was  bound  to  discredit  her  title  and 
office  in  the  eyes  of  her  lover,  is  not  quite  evi- 
dent. However,  at  that  period  it  was  not  diffi- 
cult to  find  an  explanation  for  this  remarkable 
fact.  It  was  stated,  e.g.,  that  Waldrada  was 
instigated  to  this  act  solely  by  jealousy  and  self- 
ishness, in  order  to  divorce  the  king  from  his 
consort.  This  first  step  once  taken,  the  courtesan, 
by  removing  the  spells  cast  by  her,  would  take 
good  care  that  the  king  should  soon  be  delivered 
from  the  odious  condition  of  impotence.  How- 
ever, Waldrada  had  reckoned  without  her  host — 
i.e.)  in  this  case,  without  Hinkmar,  Archbishop 
of  Eheims;  for  this  latter  gentleman,  exceed- 
ingly well  versed  in  all  matters  ecclesiastic, 
politic,  and  diabolic,  a  genuine  clerical  fighting- 
cock,  very  soon  closely  investigated  the  impo- 
tence of  his  royal  master.  In  an  extensive 
memorial  he  considered  the  royal  impotence 
according  to  its  legal,  theologic,  philosophic, 
moral,  and  various  other  aspects.  Medical  super- 
stition, accordingly,  had  acquired  such  power 
that  the  sovereign  of  the  holy  Roman  and  Ger- 
man empires  had  to  submit  his  potestas  in  venere 
to  the  test  of  public  discussion. 

119 


SUPEESTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

But  conditions  were  to  become  much  worse. 
When,  about  the  thirteenth  century,  scholasti- 
cism had  usurped  full  control  of  human  reason, 
and  all  sciences  were  permitted  to  be  pursued 
only  in  a  scholastic  sense,  medicine  was  entirely 
divorced  from  the  actual  conditions  of  life.  It 
was  completely  detached  from  nature,  its  great 
teacher,  and  irretrievably  entangled  in  the  sub- 
tleties of  an  uncertain  philosophy.  Its  activity 
now  depended  exclusively  upon  the  study  of  the 
ancients — by  no  means,  however,  upon  that  study 
in  which  an  attempt  was  made  to  master  the 
intellectual  spirit  of  ancient  medicine,  but  which 
consisted  in  a  slavish  adherence  to  the  letter. 
Every  decision  of  the  ancients,  without  any  re- 
gard to  nature,  was  made  a  dogma,  and  he  was 
the  best  physician  who  was  most  familiar  with 
these  dogmas,  who  understood  best  how  to  inter- 
pret them  most  keenly.  Mankind  had  entirely 
lost  the  conception  that  the  ancients  had  attained 
worth  and  importance  only  in  that  they  meas- 
ured things  by  the  standard  of  unbiased  experi- 
ence, and  tested  their  conclusions  according  to 
the  phenomena  of  nature  as  described  from  accu- 
rate observation  of  the  sick. 

It  is  quite  obvious  that  superstition  met  with 
a  well-prepared  soil  in  a  system  of  medicine  that 
was  overburdened  with  dogmas  and  degraded 

120 


PHILOSOPHY  AND   STJPEKSTITION 

into  utter  subserviency  to  a  vainglorious  phi- 
losophy. The  natural  result  was  that  the  medical 
art  of  a  period  of  the  middle  ages,  steeped  in 
scholasticism,  was  nothing  but  a  chaos  of  the 
most  despicable  superstition  and  folly.  The 
most  shocking  result  of  these  conditions  was  the 
belief  in  witches,  and,  with  this,  medical  super- 
stition entered  upon  a  new  stage.  Whereas  until 
then  it  had  possessed  a  restricted,  mere  local 
vitality,  and  entailed  danger  only  upon  those  who, 
from  thoughtlessness,  lent  a  willing  ear  to  it,  now 
it  degenerated  into  a  mental  epidemic  which 
threatened  equally  all  classes  of  the  people.  The 
unspeakable  misery  which  this  variety  of  med- 
ical superstition  has  brought  to  the  "Western 
world  is  well  known,  so  that  we  may  refrain  from 
entering  into  details,  referring  our  readers  to  the 
excellent  work  of  Hansen  on  this  subject. 

Physico-medipal  thought  was  so  thoroughly 
destroyed  by  the  above-described  conditions  that, 
even  when  humanity  commenced  to  shake  off  the 
scholastic  yoke,  during  the  period  of  Renaissance, 
medicine  was  only  able,  in  part,  to  follow  this 
lead.  Altho,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  an- 
cients, it  returned  to  nature,  it  was  not  able  to 
rid  itself  of  the  superstitious  idea  of  the  contin- 
uous interference  of  supernatural  powers  with 
the  performance  of  the  most  common  functions 

121 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

of  the  body.  The  Church  still  persisted  in  the 
implicit  belief  in  such  views,  and  still  dominated 
men's  minds  so  thoroughly  that  even  many  phy- 
sicians, who  in  other  respects  were  entirely  un- 
biased, remained  on  this  point  dutiful  children 
of  the  Church  ;  in  fact,  even  those  who  were 
fully  aware  of  the  shortcomings  of  the  Christian 
Church  unhesitatingly  adhered  to  the  belief  in 
demons  as  developed  from  antique  conceptions 
by  the  Church  Fathers.  Thus,  for  instance,  Dr. 
Martin  Luther  was  a  strict  believer  in  the  doc- 
trine which  taught  men  to  hold  the  devil  respon- 
sible for  the  origin  of  all  diseases.  He  thus 
expressed  himself,  for  instance:  "No  disease 
comes  from  God,  who  is  good  and  does  good  to 
everybody;  but  it  is  brought  on  by  the  devil, 
who  causes  and  performs  all  mischief,  who  inter- 
feres with  all  play  and  all  arts,  who  brings  into 
existence  pestilence,  Frenchmen,  fever,  etc." 
He  accordingly  believed  that  he  himself  was 
compelled  to  scuffle  with  the  devil  when  his 
physical  condition  was  out  of  order.  Thus,  when 
suffering  from  violent  headache,  he  wrote  to  the 
Elector,  John  of  Saxony:  "My  head  is  still 
slightly  subject  to  him  who  is  the  enemy  of 
health  and  of  all  that  is  good;  he  sometimes 
rides  through  my  brain,  so  that  I  am  not  able  to 
read  or  to  write,"  and  upon  another  occasion  he 

122 


PHILOSOPHY   AXD   SUPERSTITION 

said,  in  regard  to  bis  health:  "I  believe  that  my 
diseases  are  by  no  means  due  to  natural  causes, 
but  that  '  Younker  Satan '  plays  his  pranks  with 
me  by  sorcery." 

The  devil  was  also  held  responsible  for  the  ap- 
pearance of  monsters;  it  was  believed  that  the 
ruler  of  hell  helped  young  girls  against  their  will 
to  enjoy  the  delights  of  motherhood.  However, 
these  delights  were  said  to  be  of  a  peculiar  kind, 
in  that  intercourse  with  the  devil  was  always 
bound  to  be  followed  by  the  birth  of  the  most 
frightful  monsters.  The  devil  then  unloaded  these 
most  remarkable  monsters  into  respectable  peo- 
ple' s  houses.  Even  Luther  was  not  able  to  free 
himself  from  this  most  astonishing  delusion.  On 
the  contrary,  he  was  devoted  to  it  with  such  con- 
viction that,  when  once  in  Dessau,  he  heard  of  a 
monster  (according  to  medical  opinion,  it  was  a 
question  of  a  rhachitic  child)  that  had  grown  to 
be  twelve  years  of  age,  he  advised,  in  all  seri- 
ousness, that  this  sinful  product  of  devilish  in- 
tercourse be  thrown  into  the  river  Mulde  (com- 
pare Mohsen,  Vol.  II.,  page  506,  etc.,  on  "The 
Relations  of  Luther  to  the  Devil"). 

If  it  was  very  improper  of  the  devil  to  visit 
even  clerical  gentlemen,  he  crowned  his  wicked- 
ness, in  that  he  very  unceremoniously  honored 
even  ministers  in  the  pulpit  with  his  visit.  Such 

123 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

an  occurrence  took  place  in  Fried  eberg,  Neu- 
mark,  in  1593,  in  which  otherwise  harmless  town 
the  devil  commenced  suddenly  to  create  an  un- 
heard-of commotion.  He  harassed  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  people,  and  even  in  church  he 
gave  so  little  rest  to  those  he  possessed,  that  they 
raised  various  kinds  of  mischief  in  this  holy 
place.  When,  thereupon,  the  preacher,  Hein- 
rich  Lemrich,  thundered  against  these  deviltries 
from  the  pulpit,  the  devil  became  so  incensed 
that  immediately  he  promenaded  into  the  Rev- 
erend Lemrich  himself,  so  that  the  good  minister 
raged  in  the  pulpit  exactly  as  did  the  members 
of  his  congregation  down  below  in  the  nave. 

However,  this  variety  of  medical  superstition 
finally  spread  to  such  an  extent  that,  as  medical 
aid  was  powerless  against  the  devil,  the  aid  of 
God,  by  order  of  the  consistory,  was  invoked 
from  all  pulpits  of  the  Margravate  against  the 
above-described  misdeeds  of  hell's  ruler. 

But  the  clergy  adopted  still  another  plan  to 
checkmate  the  devil.  In  various  publications 
they  enumerated  the  villainies  which  Satan  might 
visit  on  mankind,  so  that  each  and  every  one 
would  be  enabled  to  protect  himself  against  the 
aggressions  of  the  devil,  in  whatever  form  he 
might  make  his  appearance.  The  first  publica- 
tion of  this  character  was  issued  in  1555  by  the 

124 


General  Superintendent  of  the  Electorate  of 
Brandenburg,  Professor  of  the  University  of 
Frankfort,  Herr  Musculus  ;  it  bore  the  very  ap- 
propriate title,  The  Pantaloon  Devil.  In  fact,  as 
early  as  1575  a  compilation  was  published  in 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  in  which  twenty-four 
different  forms,  which  the  devil  might  assume 
in  visiting  humanity,  were  discussed  most  con- 
scientiously and  with  becoming  diffuseness  of 
style  (compare Mohsen,  Vol.  II.,  page  426,  etc.). 

From  that  time  it  was  impossible  for  mankind 
to  shake  off  the  belief  in  devil  and  demons.  The 
thought  of  being  possessed  played  a  conspicuous 
part  even  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, thanks  to  the  activity  of  Justinus  Kerner, 
and  even  medicine  felt  called  upon  to  busy  itself 
more  thoroughly  with  this  newly  resurrected  be- 
lief. This  was  done,  for  instance,  by  Dr.  Klencke, 
who,  in  1840,  published  a  little  book  exclusively 
for  the  purpose  of  disproving  the  existence  of 
spirits. 

We  have  so  far  shown  the  potent  influence  ex- 
erted upon  medical  superstition  by  antique  as 
well  as  by  medieval  philosophy.  But  the  newer 
philosophy  greatly  influenced  the  destiny  of  med- 
icine, even  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  at 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  centuries.  The 
natural  philosophy  based  upon  the  doctrines  of 

125 


SUPEESTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

Schelling  once  more  submerged  the  art  of  heal- 
ing in  mysticism,  and  thus  necessarily  abetted 
superstition.  The  physician  no  longer  conceived 
disease  as  the  effect  of  disturbances  in  the  life  of 
the  bodily  organs,  but  held  various  forms  of  in- 
conceivable powers  responsible  for  the  incidence 
of  a  malady.  The  soul  wrapped  in  sin  had  power 
to  lead  the  life  of  the  body  from  the  normal  into 
the  pathological  condition,  and,  accordingly, 
prayer  and  the  belief  in  Christian  dogmas  again 
became  active  as  curative  factors.  It  was  espe- 
cially the  Munich  clinician,  Nepomuk  von  Eing- 
seis,  who  placed  such  theories  before  his  pupils, 
and  who,  in  his  " System  of  Medicine,"  pub- 
lished in  1840,  made  them  generally  known. 
Eingseis  states  in  this  book :  ' '  As  disease  is  orig- 
inally the  consequence  of  sin,  it  is,  altho  not 
always  indispensable,  yet  according  to  experi- 
ence, incomparably  more  safe  that  physician  as 
well  as  patient  should  obtain  absolution  before 
any  attempt  at  healing  be  made. ' '  Another  pas- 
sage reads:  ll  Christ  is  the  all -restorer,  and  as 
such  He  cooperates  in  every  corporeal  cure. ' '  In 
this  sense  Eingseis  calls  the  sacraments  "the 
talismans  coming  from  the  Physician  of  all  physi- 
cians, and,  therefore,  the  most  excellent  of  all 
physical,  stimulating,  and  alterative  remedies." 
Thus,  after  almost  three  thousand  years,  medi- 

126 


PHILOSOPHY   AND   MEDICINE 

cine  had  returned  to  the  stage  at  which  it  origi- 
nated— namely,  to  the  view  that  incorporeal,  su- 
pernatural factors  were  to  play  a  determining  part 
in  pathology  and  therapy.  However,  that  there 
are  plenty  of  individuals  even  in  our  time  who 
are  at  any  moment  ready  again  to  sacrifice  wan- 
tonly all  enlightenment  and  all  progress  to  this 
varied  superstition,  is  demonstrated  by  the  cases 
of  Mrs.  Eddy  and  the  Eeverend  Dowie,  those 
modern  representatives  of  medical  superstition. 
There  is  only  one  protection  against  these  re- 
lapses, against  these  atavistic  tendencies,  and 
that  is  education  in  natural  science.  The  more 
it  becomes  disseminated  among  the  people  the 
less  danger  there  will  be  that  the  heresies  of  a 
false  philosophy,  or  of  an  overheated  religious 
sentiment,  may  again  conjure  up  medical  super- 
stition to  the  detriment  of  humanity. 


127 


THE    RELATIONS    OF    NATURAL    SCIENCE    TO 
MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION 

THE  point  of  view  from  which  man  has  regarded 
nature  for  thousands  of  years  up  to  modern  times 
has  been  such  as  to  promote  most  effectually  the 
development  of  superstition  ;  for  the  idea  that 
a  satisfactory  insight  into  the  character  of  nat- 
ural phenomena  can  be  obtained  only  by  means 
of  adequate  experiments,  and  of  observation  per- 
fected by  the  employment  of  the  inductive 
reasoning  and  ingenious  instruments,  is  compara- 
tively recent.  Natural  science  applying  such 
means  is  scarcely  two  hundred  years  old.  Fit 
instruments  for  the  observation  of  nature  existed 
only  to  a  limited  extent  up  to  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and,  besides,  their  complete  efficiency  left 
much  to  be  desired.  The  attempts  to  wrest  from 
Nature  her  secrets  by  means  of  experiment  were 
but  feeble  and  unsuccessful.  Altho  the  ancients, 
as  is  shown  by  the  writings  of  Hippocrates, 
Galen,  and  others,  had  some  knowledge  of  vivi- 
section, they  had  practised  it  to  a  most  limited 
extent.  During  the  middle  ages  and  the  period 

128 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPERSTITION 

of  the  Renaissance  comparatively  few  physical 
experiments  were  made.  Whatever  researches 
in  natural  science  were  then  undertaken  were 
intended  much  less  for  the  investigation  of  nature 
than  for  fantastic  and  superstitious  purposes — 
as,  for  instance,  the  investigations  of  alchemy 
and  astrology. 

It  is  quite  obvious  that,  under  such  circum- 
stances, a  number  of  superficial,  imperfect,  and 
distorted  observations  crept  into  the  theoretic 
system  of  natural  science. 

However,  this  was  not  all ;  the  diagnostico- 
theoretical  method,  by  means  of  which  antiquity, 
the  middle  ages,  and  even  the  greatest  part  of 
more  modern  times,  had  seen  the  natural  sciences 
treated,  was  radically  wrong.  Man  did  not  feel 
his  way  carefully  from  experiment  to  experi- 
ment, from  observation  to  observation,  until  the 
general  principle  was  found  which  inductively 
comprised  a  number  of  phenomena  under  one 
uniform  principle  of  law,  but  the  principle  which 
was  at  the  bottom  of  phenomena  was  fixed  upon 
a  speculative  basis,  and  in  accordance  with  this 
principle  the  phenomena  were  interpreted — as 
was  done,  for  instance,  in  medicine  in  the  case 
of  humoral  pathology.  And  as  this  specula- 
tively  constructed  principle  was  obtained  exclu- 
sively by  a  method  dangerous  to  the  cognition  of 

129 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

natural  sciences,  by  conclusion  from  analogy, 
naturally  the  most  fantastic  and  adventurous 
conceptions  soon  became  accepted  in  the  realm 
of  natural  philosophy.  But  natural  philosophy 
once  lost  in  such  a  labyrinth,  an  aberration  of 
the  perceptive  powers  can  not  fail  to  follow — at 
least,  in  certain  domains  of  nature.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  this  fallacious  perception  promptly  made 
its  appearance,  and  has  proved  the  stumbling- 
block  of  science  from  its  earliest  days  up  to  the 
present  times.  Occultism,  mysticism,  or  what- 
ever the  names  may  be  of  the  various  forms  of 
superstition,  have  sprung  from  these  erroneous 
conceptions  of  natural  science.  It  may  even  be 
contended  that  no  variety  of  superstition  exists 
which  is  not  somehow  connected  with  a  distorted 
observation  or  explanation  of  nature.  However 
interesting  these  considerations  may  be,  we  can 
not  here  pursue  them  any  further. 

Such  investigations  belong  to  the  history  of 
superstition  in  general,  and  any  one  who  desires 
more  detailed  information  is  referred  to  the 
enormous  literature  of  the  subject.  "We  can 
here  consider  only  those  relations  which  prevail, 
or  have  prevailed,  between  superstition  and  nat- 
ural science,  and  principally  the  influence  which 
was  thus  exerted  upon  the  art  of  healing  by 
astronomy. 

130 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEBSTITION 

Astronomy  and  medicine  became  most  inti- 
mately connected  during  the  earliest  periods  of 
human  civilization.  The  literature  of  cuneiform 
inscriptions  shows  us  that  the  attempt  to  bring 
the  stars  into  connection  with  human  destinies 
is  primeval,  and  reaches  back  to  the  ancient 
Babylonian  age,  even  to  the  Sumero-Accadic 
period  (Sudhoff,  Ned.  Woche.  1901,  No.  41). 
How  primeval  peoples  came  to  connect  their 
destinies  with  the  heavenly  bodies  and  their 
orbits  is  explained  so  lucidly  by  Troels-Lund 
(page  28,  etc.)  that  we  shall  cite  his  descrip- 
tions, even  if  they  are  rather  long  for  quotation. 
He  says:  "The  Chaldean  history  of  creation  is 
inscribed  upon  seven  clay  tablets.  On  the  fifth 
tablet  we  read :  l  The  seventh  day  He  instituted 
as  a  holy  day,  and  ordained  that  man  should 
rest  from  all  labor. '  Why  just  seven?  Because 
the  holy  number  seven  of  the  planets  impercept- 
ibly shone  through  the  work  of  creation,  and  was 
imperceptibly  impressed  upon  the  entire  order 
of  thought.  We  are  here  at  the  decisive  epoch  at 
which  the  planets  for  the  first  time  gave  an  im- 
petus to  human  conception,  the  effects  of  which 
were  to  persist  for  thousands  of  years.  This  was 
repeated  a  second  time  when  Copernicus,  in  deal- 
ing especially  with  the  orbit  of  the  planets,  found- 
ed the  still-prevailing  conception  of  the  universe. 

131 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

"For  the  theory  of  creation  could  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  phenomenon  of  sun  and  moon  mov- 
ing in  their  regular  courses.  They  were  in  this 
case  no  longer,  as  had  been  assumed  until  then, 
individual  living  beings  and  divinities,  but 
lights  kindled  by  a  mighty  God,  and  intended 
to  move  day  and  night,  in  an  established  order, 
under  the  dome  of  heaven.  But  the  other  five 
planets!  It  was  unnecessary  to  be  a  Chaldean 
on  the  Babylonian  Tower  in  order  to  feel  amaze- 
ment at  these.  Every  one  who  had  ever  followed 
with  his  eye  their  courses  for  a  few  nights  during 
a  caravan  journey,  every  one  who,  lying  awake, 
had  occasionally  attempted  to  read  the  time  from 
the  only  clock  of  the  night — the  star-covered 
canopy  of  heaven — was  bound  to  have  noticed 
their  peculiarities  as  to  light  and  course.  They 
did  not  shine  uniformly,  but  sometimes  intensely, 
at  other  times  faintly,  and  entirely  different  was 
their  radiance  from  that  of  other  stars — reddish, 
greenish,  bluish.  And  their  course  was  at  one 
time  rapid,  at  other  times  slow;  then  backward 
or  oblique;  sometimes  they  disappeared  entirely. 
Necessarily  they  appeared  inexplicable  not  only 
to  the  inexperienced  observer,  but  to  a  still 
higher  grade  of  intellect — that  of  the  most  ex- 
perienced Chaldean ;  for,  altho  their  periods 
could  possibly  be  calculated,  their  courses  beg- 

132 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEKSTITION 

gared  all  geometrical  figures.  These  confused 
paths  could  be  explained  only  in  one  manner — 
namely,  as  the  expression  of  an  arbitrary  will, 
the  manifestations  of  an  independent  life.  The 
courses  of  the  planets  furnished  the  astronomic 
proof  that  the  heavenly  bodies  were  animated. 
The  universe  was  more  than  created,  it  was  god- 
head itself  in  living  activity. 

"How  this  point  of  view  broadened  and 
cleared  everything  !  The  world  assumed  the 
shape  of  an  enormous  hall  upon  which  divine 
power,  divine  will,  continuously  acted  from 
above.  Farthest  down  was  the  world  of  the  ele- 
ments. In  boundless  distances  above  it  moved 
the  moon  and  the  six  other  planets,  each  one  in 
its  transparent  heaven.  In  the  highest  height, 
finally,  revolved  the  canopy  of  impervious 
heaven,  into  which  constellations  were  ranged 
in  shapes  that  resembled  animals  (Tablet  V., 
verse  2).  Apparently  these  rotations  did  not 
have  anything  in  common  with  each  other;  a 
power  which  passed  through  them  from  above 
moved  these  elemental  worlds.  Did  not  daily 
experience  of  their  rising  determine  winter, 
storm,  drought,  etc.?  Thus  the  processes  on 
earth  only  reflected  and  repeated  the  course  of 
these  divine  and  heavenly  bodies ;  yea,  divine 
will  itself.  But  their  order  of  movement  varied. 

133 


SUPEKSTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

Sun  and  moon  with  their  regular  courses  spin, 
as  it  were,  the  firm  warps  and  woofs;  the  other 
five  are  instrumental  in  producing  what  is 
changeable  and  apparently  accidental.  Uni- 
tedly in  their  course  through  heaven  the  seven 
weave  the  threads  of  fate.  Silently  they  weave 
the  design  of  terrestrial  life.  Upon  them  depend 
not  only  summer  and  winter,  rain  and  drought, 
but  also  the  life  and  death  of  every  living  being; 
as  determined  by  the  constellation  of  their  birth, 
such  is  each  man,  so  will  he  live.  Never  do  the 
heavenly  bodies  repeat  precisely  the  same  rela- 
tive positions,  and,  therefore,  never  are  two 
years,  two  days,  two  human  beings,  two  leaves, 
completely  identical." 

So  far  Troels-Lund. 

Much  as  we  agree  with  what  Troels-Lund  says, 
yet  we  believe  that  the  decisive  motive  which 
led  humanity  to  bring  their  bodily  welfare  into 
closest  connection  with  the  starry  canopy  of 
heaven  was  suggested  by  the  powerful  influence 
which  the  sun  exerts  upon  the  bodily  welfare  of 
all  life.  As  this  life-giving  power  of  the  sun  had 
a  conspicuous  share  in  the  origin  of  primeval 
sabianism,  so  also  it  exerted  a  similar  influence 
upon  the  development  of  astrology;  for  it  must 
have  been  obvious  to  even  the  most  stupid  ob- 
server that  his  well-being  depended  to  a  great 

134 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPERSTITION 

extent  upon  the  action  of  the  sun.  From  this 
perception  to  the  idea  that  other  heavenly  bodies 
were  also  intended  to  exert  a  decisive  influence 
upon  things  terrestrial  was  only  a  short  step  for 
the  ancient  civilized  peoples;  for  here  the  con- 
clusion from  analogy  was  actually  so  closely  and 
so  enticingly  under  every  one's  nose  that  all  he 
had  to  do  was  but  to  pitch  upon  the  powers 
which  rule  all  earthly  life  and  neatly  box  them 
up  in  a  well-constructed  system.  But  as  the 
conclusion  from  analogy  was  always  consid- 
ered in  the  ancient  world  as  the  most  certain, 
never-failing  path  to  knowledge,  it  was  readily 
followed  in  this  connection  also.  And  thus 
astrology,  like  the  greater  part  of  medico-phys- 
ical knowledge,  was  based,  we  think,  upon  the 
treacherous  ground  of  a  conclusion  per  ana- 
logiam. 

Besides,  our  opinion  that  the  warming  and 
vitalizing  power  of  the  sun  formed  one  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  the  origin  of  astrology 
is  confirmed  by  the  utterances  of  astrologists 
themselves.  Thus,  for  instance,  Ptolemy  points 
to  the  sun  and  moon  as  the  sources  of  life  to 
mankind,  and  Hermes  and  Almansor  repeat  the 
dictum.  This  is  furthermore  proved  by  the  un- 
paralleled popularity  which  astrology  has  en- 
joyed in  all  phases  of  civilization.  There  is  no 

135 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

civilized  people,  either  of  ancient  or  of  modern 
times,  which  has  not  adhered  to  astrologic  doc- 
trines with  the  fullest  confidence  and  most  un- 
swerving faith.  Babylonians,  Egyptians,  Greeks, 
Romans,  Germans,  Romanians — in  short,  .  all 
nations — have  professed  their  belief  in  astrology. 
Such  a  conformity  of  opinion  would,  however, 
be  inexplicable  amid  such  a  dissimilarity  of 
religious  and  cultural  ideas  as  characterized  the 
different  peoples,  unless  a  common  principle  had 
decisively  influenced  all  nations  in  the  same 
manner.  This  principle  was  acknowledged  in 
the  influence  of  the  sun.  Every  human  being 
was  bound  to  observe  the  animating  power  of  the 
sun  on  his  own  bodily  sense  and  from  his  own 
observation,  and  would  be  at  once  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  a  similar  power  resided  also  in 
the  other  celestial  bodies. 

This  conception,  which  to  a  great  extent  was 
brought  about  by  conclusions  from  analogy,  pro- 
vided a  method  of  inference  concerning  various 
other  phenomena.  Man  meditated,  speculated, 
concluded,  until  the  required  sidereal  relation  of 
each  organ  and  each  function  of  the  human  body 
was  determined.  Thus  astrology  may  serve  as 
one  of  the  most  telling  examples  of  scientific 
delusions  to  which  the  ancient  diagnostico- 
theoretical  methods  were  bound  to  lead,  with 

136 


SCIENCE  AND  SUPERSTITION 

their  conclusions  from  analogy  and  their  deduct- 
ive modes  of  procedure. 

The  above  survey  indicates,  altho  only  in  very 
general  outlines,  the  origin  of  astrology.  We 
shall  now  consider  more  in  detail  the  acquisi- 
tion for  which  the  art  of  medicine  is  especially 
indebted  to  astrology. 

Babylonico-Assyrian  civilization  possessed  in 
its  earliest  ages  a  well- developed  system  of 
astrologic  medicine,  as  is  evident  from  writings 
bequeathed  to  us  from  antiquity.  Campbell- 
Thompson  has  recently  published,  from  the  great 
stock  of  cuneiform  tablets  in  the  collection  of  the 
British  Museum,  276  inscriptions  of  an  astrolog- 
ical nature  belonging  to  the  so-called, Kouyunjik 
collection.  Sudhoff  has  compiled  them,  so  far 
as  they  refer  to  medicine,  and  has  subjected 
them  to  critical  analysis.  We  take  the  liberty 
of  repeating  certain  extracts  from  these  cunei- 
form tablets,  which  appear  to  be  the  reports 
which  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  court  astrol- 
ogists  made  to  the  king. 

Tablet  69a  says:  "  If  the  wind  comes  from  the 
west  upon  appearance  of  the  moon,  disease  will 
prevail  during  this  month." 

Tablet  207 :  "If  Venus  approaches  the  constel- 
lation of  Cancer,  obedience  and  prosperity  will 
be  in  the  land  .  .  .  the  sick  of  the  land  will  re- 

137 


SUPERSTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

cover.  Pregnant  women  will  carry  their  con- 
finements to  a  favorable  termination." 

Tablet  163:  "  If  Mercury  rises  on  the  fifteenth 
day  of  the  month,  there  will  be  many  deaths.  If 
the  constellation  of  Cancer  becomes  obscured,  a 
fatal  demon  will  possess  the  land  and  many 
deaths  will  occur. ' ' 

Tablet  232  :  "If  Mercury  comes  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Mars,  there  will  follow  fatalities  among 
horses." 

Tablet  175:  "  If  a  planet  becomes  pale  in  op- 
position to  the  moon,  or  if  it  enters  into  conjunc- 
tion with  it,  many  lions  will  die. ' ' 

Tablet  195  :  "If  Mars  and  Jupiter  come  in 
conjunction,  many  cattle  will  die." 

Tablet  117  :  "If  the  greater  halo  surrounds 
the  moon,  ruin  will  be  visited  upon  mankind." 

Tablet  269  :  "If  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  occurs 
on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  the  month  of  Jypar, 
there  will  be  many  deaths  on  the  first  day. ' ' 

Tablet  271  :  "An  eclipse  at  the  morning 
watch  causes  disease.  ...  If  an  eclipse 
takes  place  during  the  morning  watch,  and  lasts 
throughout  the  watch,  while  the  wind  blows 
from  the  north,  the  sick  in  Akkad  will  recover." 

Tablet  79 :  "  If  a  halo  surrounds  the  moon  and 
if  Eegulus  stands  within,  women  will  bear  male 
children." 

138 


SCIENCE  AXD  SUPEESTITION 

Tablet  94  :  "If  sun  and  moon  ...  on 
the  fifteenth  day  '  answer  my  prayer '  shall  he 
say  .  .  .  Let  him  nestle  close  to  his  wife,  she 
shall  conceive  a  son." 

These  few  extracts  show  us  the  close  relations 
into  which  Assyrico-Babylonian  culture  brought 
the  becoming  and  passing  away  of  all  animal  life 
with  the  stellar  movement  ;  in  fact,  as  we  note 
from  Tablet  94,  the  astrologists  of  this  period  did 
not  hesitate  to  intrude  into  the  most  intimate  oc- 
currences of  married  life.  It  is  quite  obvious  that, 
under  such  circumstances,  the  Babylonian  physi- 
cian was  compelled  to  consider  very  carefully 
the  utterances  of  the  astrologists  in  carrying  on 
his  practise.  It  may  be  possible  that  we  shall 
obtain  still  further  information  regarding  the 
quality  of  sidereal  therapy  from  the  numerously 
discovered  cuneiform  tablets.  We  know  posi- 
tively that  a  physician  was  forbidden  to  perform 
any  surgical  operations  on  certain  days  of  each 
month.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  7th,  14th,  19th, 
21st,  and  28th  of  the  month  Schall-Elul  were 
unfavorable  days  for  such  operations  (Oefele). 
These  directions  were  especially  stringent  in  re- 
gard to  venesection,  to  which  act  we  shall  again 
refer  in  greater  detail. 

When  civilization,  later  on,  continued  to 
thrive  upon  the  shores  of  the  Mle,  astrology 

139 


SUPEIiSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

still  found  a  fertile  soil  there,  and  it  appears 
that  here  also  the  name  "'larpojj.aSrjuariHoi  has 
originated,  which,  subsequently,  was  a  favorite 
designation  of  adherents  to  the  sidereal  art  of 
healing.  The  astrological  prognoses  made  by 
the  professional  astrologist,  Petosiris,  for  the  king 
Nechepso  of  Sais  are  well  known.  However,  it 
appears,  according  to  the  latest  investigations 
(compare  the  excellent  work  of  Sudhoff,  page  4, 
etc.),  that  these  prognoses  have  nothing  at  all  to 
do  with  that  king  Nechepso  who  reigned  in  the 
seventh  century,  B.C.  It  seems  more  probable 
that  some  cunning  Alexandrian  astrologist  of  the 
second  century,  B.C.,  fraudulently  used  the  name 
of  the  king  as  a  cover  for  his  work.  But  how- 
ever this  may  be,  these  prognoses  of  Petosiris 
have  considerable  value,  in  that  they  give  us  an 
insight  into  the  manufacture  of  such  medical 
prophesies. 

The  object  of  these  prognoses  was  primarily  to 
discover  the  termination  of  a  disease,  whether 
the  patient  would  die  or  recover,  either  soon  or 
only  after  the  lapse  of  a  certain  time — for  in- 
stance, after  seven  days.  This  was  all  that  Peto- 
siris undertook  to  predict.  All  details  regarding 
treatment,  complications,  and  diagnosis  of  a  case 
are  still  entirely  wanting.  Petosiris,  in  making 
such  a  prognosis,  by  no  means  relied  solely  upon 

140 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEBSTITION 

the  conjunction  of  certain  celestial  bodies,  but 
he  employed  a  rather  intricate  method,  in  which 
mystic  numbers,  onomancy,  and  astrology  were 
important  elements.  To  prognosticate  medically 
according  to  this  system  a  circle  of  numerals  was 
required  in  the  first  place.  There  existed  two 


FIG.  1 — CIRCLE   OF   PETOSIRI8 
(After  Bouche-I,eclercq,  p.  539) 

different  kinds  of  such  circles — one  simple,  the 
other  more  complicated.  Berthelot  has  fur- 
nished us  with  examples  of  both  as  used  by 
Petosiris. 

The  more  simple  formula  (Fig.  1)  consisted  of 
two  concentric  circles,  the  smaller  of  which  was 
divided  into  four  quadrants.  Between  both  con- 

141 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

centric  circles  and  within  the  horizontal  di- 
ameters were  inscribed  the  words:  MSOTJ  £0077;  to 
the  right  of  this:  r)  ^tupd  ^oor};  to  the  left  of  the 
vertical  line:  fi  per o&rj  CG^.  Under  the  vertical 
line  was  inscribed:  //e'tfos  sdvarot;  to  the  right  of 
this:  //zxpos  SdvaroS;  and  to  the  left  of  the  ver- 
tical line:  6  ftevas  SaVaros.  Only  words  which 
point  to  the  longer  or  shorter  duration  of  life,  or 
to  the  death-struggle,  were  therefore  employed. 
The  four  quadrants  of  the  enclosed  circle,  as  well 
as  the  vertical  diameter,  contained  the  numerals 
from  1  to  29  in  a  mystical  order,  representing 
the  duration  of  the  moon' s  phases.  The  above 
(Fig.  1)  shows  us  this  astrological  circle  of 
Petosiris. 

The  second — essentially  more  complicated — for- 
mula consists  of  three  concentric  circles.  Vari- 
ous words  are  inscribed  between  the  first  and 
second  circles,  as  in  Fig.  1.  Between  the  sec- 
ond and  third  circles,  and  in  the  verticals,  the 
numerals  from  1  to  30  are  disposed  in  a  mystical 
arrangement.  Furthermore,  these  circles  are 
not,  as  in  Fig.  1,  divided  into  four  quadrants, 
but  into  eight  equal  sections.  At  these  points  in 
which  the  radii  forming  the  sectors  intersect  the 
periphery  of  the  outermost  of  the  three  concen- 
tric circles,  arched  enclosures  are  raised  which 
also  contain  various  words. 

142 


SCIEXCE   AND   SUPEBSTITION 

When  it  was  sought,  by  means  of  the  above- 
described  figures,  to  determine  the  medical  fu- 
ture or  the  life  and  death  of  an  individual,  this 
could  be  accomplished  with  the  aid  of  the  dia- 


FIG.  2 — CIRCLE   OP   PETOSIRI8 
(After  Bouchfe-Irfeclercq,  p.  540) 

gram  represented  in  Fig.  1  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  duration  of  the  disease  in  days,  the 
numerical  value  of  the  name  of  the  patient,  and 
the  phases  of  the  moon  were  added,  and  the  sum 
divided  by  29.  The  result  thus  obtained  was 

143 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

interpreted  by  referring  to  the  diagram.  If  this 
figure  happened  to  be,  for  instance,  in  the  right 
upper  quadrant,  the  patient,  altho  he  would 
recover  from  his  illness,  would  live  only  for  a 
very  short  period;  if  this  number  was  found  in 
the  vertical  line,  below  the  horizontal  diameter, 
the  patient  was  destined  to  die  after  a  short 
struggle. 

Much  more  intricate  was  the  use  of  the  astro- 
logical apparatus  illustrated  in  Fig  2.  Here 
the  number  of  the  moon' s  day,  and  the  numerical 
values  of  the  name  of  the  patient  were  not  added, 
but  each  of  these  figures  was  separately  looked 
for  in  the  diagram.  If  the  moon  figure  was 
found  in  the  lower,  the  figure  for  the  name  in 
the  upper,  ends  of  the  verticals — i.e.,  where 
SvdiS  vTtoyeio?,  setting,  and  avaTo\.r)  vTtepysioS, 
rising,  stand — the  individual  concerned,  altho  in 
danger,  finally  recovered.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  moon  figure  was  discovered  in  the  upper, 
and  the  figure  for  the  name  in  the  lower,  ends 
of  the  verticals,  nothing  but  evil  was  in  store  for 
the  questioner,  but  the  misfortune  appeared 
under  the  guise  of  fortune.  If  both  numbers, 
however,  were  at  the  upper  ends  of  the  verticals, 
the  prospects  were  favorable,  but  bad  if  both 
figures  occurred  below  the  horizontal  line. 

A  method  which  is  similar  to  the  simple  appa- 

144 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEKSTITION 


ratus  of  Petosiris  is  revealed  to  us  iii  the  so- 
called  cxpaipa  ArjuoKpiTov.  It  is  contained  in  the 
Papyrus  Magica  Musei  Lugdunensis  Batavia,  pub- 
lished by  Dietrich.  Fig.  3  shows  the  illustra- 
tion belonging  to  this 
method,  and  also  the 
Greek  directions  for  use, 
as  given  in  the  papyrus. 
It  will  be  noticed  that 
in  the  method  of  Democ- 
ritus  recourse  is  made 
to  a  table  of  numerals 
divided  by  a  cross-line 
into  the  upper  and 
larger,  and  a  lower  and 
smaller,  section.  The 
upper  part  contains  in 
three  vertical  columns 

18,  in  the  lower,  12  figures.  To  use  the  table, 
the  day  when  the  disease  began,  the  numerical 
value  of  the  name,  and  the  days  of  the  moon 
were  added,  and  the  sum  thus  obtained  divided 
by  30.  This  quotient  was  then  looked  for  in  the 
table  of  numbers.  If  it  was  found  above  the 
cross-line,  the  patient  recovered;  if  below,  he 
succumbed. 

There  existed  a  great  many    other   methods 
besides  those  described  above;  for  instance,  the 

145 


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FIG.  3 — THE  TABLE  OK 
DEMOCRITUS 


SUPEKSTITION  IS  MEDICINE 

system  of  the  12  places,  the  circle  of  Manilius, 
the  method  of  the  mysterious  Hermes  Trisme- 
gistus,  the  circle  of  Ptolemy,  etc.  However, 
we  can  not  here  enter  into  a  more  detailed  de- 
scription of  these  forms,  and  refer  those  that 
wish  more  exhaustive  information  to  Berthelot, 
and,  above  all,  to  Bouche'-Leclercq.  Astrology, 
and,  with  it,  sidereal  medicine,  subsequently 
traveled  from  its-Oriental  home  into  all  civilized 
countries  of  the  then  known  world. 

As  regards  Greek  and  Eoman  antiquity,  astrol- 
ogy in  all  its  forms  won  a  high  reputation  both 
in  Greece  and  Italy.  Even  the  most  eminent 
ancient  physicians,  altho  they  did  not  unreserv- 
edly adopt  sidereal  medicine,  refrained  from 
disavowing  it.  Thus  we  find  in  the  Corpus 
Hippocraticum,  the  chief  work  of  early  Greek 
medicine,  passages  which  betray  more  than  a 
friendly  feeling  toward  the  astral  art  of  healing. 
It  is  true,  expressions  are  not  wanting  which 
sound  like  a  direct  disowning  of  astrology. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  few  moments  the  attitude 
of  Hippocratic  medicine  toward  astrology. 

As  to  the  rejection  of  astrologic  medicine  by 
the  followers  of  Hippocrates,  we  read  (  "  Ancient 
Medicine,"  Chapter  I. ;  in  the  translation  of 
Fuchs,  Vol.  I.,  page  19):  "For  this  reason  I  be- 
lieve that  it  [medical  art]  requires  no  basis  of 

146 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPERSTITION 

vain  presumption,  such  as  the  existence  of  in- 
visible and  doubtful  factors,  the  discussion  of 
which,  if  it  should  be  attempted,  necessitates  a 
hypothetic  science  of  supernatural  or  of  subter- 
restrial  nature  ;  for,  if  any  one  should  contend 
that  he  knew  anything  about  such  a  matter, 
neither  he,  the  lecturer,  nor  his  hearers  would 
clearly  understand  whether  his  statements  were 
true  or  not,  because  nothing  exists  to  which  ref- 
erence could  be  had  for  purposes  of  verification. ' ' 
This  surely  is  a  refutation  as  definite  as  can 
be  desired  of  a  medicine  which  depends  upon 
witchcraft  or  astrologic  vagaries.  However,  va- 
rious other  passages  of  the  Corpus  Hippocrati- 
cuin  take  an  exactly  contrary  position.  For  ex- 
ample, we  find  the  following  statement  (on  "Air, 
Water,  and  Locality,"  Chapter  XVII.,  in  the 
translation  of  Fuchs,  Vol.  I.,  page  390):  "  At- 
tention must  be  paid  to  the  rise  of  the  stars, 
especially  to  that  of  Sirius,*  as  well  as  to  the  rise 
of  Arcturus,  and,  further,  to  the  setting  of  the 
Pleiades,  for  most  diseases  reach  a  crisis  during 
such  periods,  some  of  them  abating  in  these 
days,  others  ceasing  entirely,  or  developing  into 


*This  star,  in  particular,  played  a  role  in  the  astrologic  prognosis 
of  the  Egyptians;  in  fact,  in  various  systems  it  was  made  the  start- 
ing-point of  medical  predictions;  for  instance,  in  the  method  of 
Hermes  Trismegistus. 

147 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

other  symptoms  and  different  conditions. ' '  These 
words  indicate  a  distinct  intention  of  bringing 
prognosis  and  course  of  diseases  into  the  closest 
relations  with  the  motions  of  the  celestial  bodies. 
In  the  second  chapter  of  the  same  book  similar 
expressions  occur :  l l  He  who  knows  how  the 
change  of  seasons  and  the  rising  and  setting  of 
stars  take  place  will  also  be  able  to  foresee 
how  the  year  is  going  to  be.  Therefore,  any  one 
who  investigates  these  subjects  and  predicts 
coming  events  will  be  thoroughly  informed  as 
to  each  detail  of  the  future;  he  will  enjoy  the 
best  of  health,  and  take  as  much  as  possible  the 
right  road  in  art.  However,  if  any  one  should 
be  of  the  opinion  that  these  questions  belong 
solely  in  the  realm  of  astronomy,  he  will  soon 
change  his  opinion  as  he  learns  that  astronomy 
is  not  of  slight,  but  of  a  very  essential,  impor- 
tance in  medical  art."  Stars  and  diseases  are 
also  brought  into  mutual  relations  in  the  letter 
to  King  Ptolemy  (Emerins,  page  293). 

The  above  quotations  refer  exclusively  to  the 
course  of  diseases  in  relation  to  the  stars,  but 
we  find  in  other  passages  also  distinct  references 
are  made  to  therapeutic  methods;  for  instance, 
in  " Aphorisms,"  §  4,  paragraph  5,  we  read: 
"  Purging  is  very  difficult  during  or  before  the 
dog-days." 

148 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPERSTITION 

It  would,  indeed,  be  most  remarkable  if  no  as- 
trologic  remarks  of  any  kind  were  found  in  the 
Corpus  Hippocraticum,  as  the  idea  of  close  rela- 
tion between  the  celestial  bodies  and  matters 
terrestrial  had  common  currency  during  the  Hip- 
pocratic  period.  The  songs  of  Stesichorus  and 
of  Pindar  show,  for  instance  (as  is  also  stated  by 
Pliny,  Book  3,  Chapter  XII.,  Vol.  I.,  page  118), 
that  eclipses  of  certain  stars  were  considered  to 
be  pregnant  with  mischief.  This  superstitious 
conception  has,  in  some  cases,  actually  caused 
severe  general  calamities.  Thus,  for  instance, 
the  Sicilian  campaign  ended  unfortunately  for 
the  Athenians  only  because  their  general,  Nicias, 
under  a  superstitious  apprehension  concerning 
an  eclipse,  failed  to  put  to  sea.  And  as  this  cam- 
paign was  the  cause  to  Athens  of  a  partial  loss 
of  Greek  hegemony,  we  may  safely  say  that  as- 
trology had  a  decisive  share  in  the  fall  of  Athens 
(Pliny,  Book  2,  Chapter  XXIII. ). 

The  appearance  of  comets,  like  eclipses  of  the 
sun  and  the  moon,  were  also  reputed  to  be  omi- 
nous among  the  ancients.  Comets  were  consid- 
ered heavenly  mischief-makers  of  the  worst  kind, 
and  almost  every  sort  of  calamity  was  ascribed 
to  them.  A  calamity  was  supposed  to  assume 
various  aspects,  according  to  the  position  and 
form  of  the  comet.  Under  some  circumstances, 

149 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

however,  they  were  said  to  prognosticate  many 
events  advantageous  to  mankind  (Pliny,  Book  2, 
Chapter  XXIV.).  Thus  Augustus  considered  a 
comet,  which  was  seen  for  an  entire  week  at  the 
northern  quarter  of  the  heavens  at  the  onset  of 
his  rule,  during  performances  which  were  given 
in  honor  of  Venus  genetrix,  to  be  his  lucky  star. 

However,  not  only  such  extraordinary  appear- 
ances in  the  sky  as  comets,  eclipses  of  the  sun 
and  the  moon,  played  a  conspicuous  part  in 
medical  superstitions  of  the  ancients.  Even 
those  celestial  phenomena  which  occur  with  a 
regularity  fixed  by  natural  law,  such  as  the  rev- 
olution of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  were  considered 
highly  important  events  in  therapeutic  art. 
Thus,  affections  of  the  eye  in  man  and  beast 
were  said  to  increase  and  to  decrease  with  the 
moon  (Pliny,  Book  2,  Chapter  XLL). 

All  acute  diseases  were  believed  to  be  con- 
trolled by  the  moon,  whereas  chronic  affections 
were  thought  to  be  under  the  influence  of  the 
sun.  In  fact,  everything  that  happened  to  man 
was  brought  in  immediate  relationship  with  ap- 
pearances in  the  canopy  of  heaven.  Thus,  for 
instance,  it  is  stated  by  Marcus  Manilius,  the 
well-known  author  of  an  astronomical  didactic 
poem  dedicated  to  the  Emperor  Augustus  : 
"Omnis  cum  coelo  fortunae  pendeat  ordo." 
150 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPERSTITION 

In  the  thirteenth,  chapter  of  the  second  book 
the  poet  maintains  that  each  part  of  the  human 
body  is  subordinate  to  a  distinct  sign  of  the 
zodiac.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  head  to  Aries, 
etc. 

Altho  the  further  development  of  Occidental 
as  well  as  Oriental  astrology  drew  its  resources 
from  the  primeval  Assyrian,  Babylonian,  and 
Egyptian  doctrines,  yet  from  the  second  century, 
A.D.,  the  astronomic  work  of  Ptolemy  and  the 
exhaustive  description  of  antique  medicine  by 
Galen  derive  their  inspiration  from  Medicina 
Astrologica.  Whatever  these  two  great  masters 
were  able  to  report  of  the  dependence  of  the 
functions  of  the  body  upon  celestial  bodies  was 
from  then  on,  without  further  inspection  and 
examination,  acknowledged  to  be  true  by  the 
great  majority  of  physicians.  Only  occasionally 
this  or  that  practitioner  is  bold  enough  to  oppose 
the  intrusion  of  astrologic  vagaries  into  the  art 
of  healing;  among  these  radicals  was  the  philo- 
sophically trained  physician,  Sextus  Empiricus, 
who  lived  about  the  year  193,  A.D.  However, 
this  protest  of  brave  Sextus,  as  well  as  all  sub- 
sequent ones,  scarcely  had  any  influence  upon 
the  astrological  development  of  medicine.  As- 
trology could  not  be  arrested  on  its  road  to  the 
domination  of  the  world,  and  until  the  seven- 

151 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

teenth  century  it  controlled  the  thought  of  phy- 
sicians with  the  same  invincible  sway  that  it 
exercised  over  the  mental  life  of  all  other  profes- 
sions and  classes.  Medico-astrological  supersti- 
tion had  become  legalized,  and  this  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  Galen  himself  at  last  expressed  his  dis- 
trust of  the  Medicina  Astrologica,  and  at  least 
endeavored  to  extenuate  his  part  in  its  dissem- 
ination. 

Let  us  now  scrutinize  more  minutely  the  con- 
dition of  Medicina  Astrologica  in  the  second 
century,  A.D.  The  works  of  Ptolemy,  the  "latro- 
mathematica ' '  of  the  mysterious  Hermes  Trisrne- 
gistus,  and  the  third  book  of  Galen's  writing  on 
the  "critical  days"  furnish  sufficient  material 
for  outlining  the  medico-astrological  system  of 
that  period. 

In  the  first  place,  the  method  by  which  the 
authors  of  that  period  instilled  their  astrologic 
dotage  into  the  minds  of  their  contempora- 
ries varied  considerably.  Either  astrological 
remarks  were  here  and  there  interspersed  in  a 
work  on  medical  or  on  astronomical  subjects,  as 
was  the  case,  for  instance,  in  the  u  Opus  Quadri- 
partitum ' '  of  Ptolemy  and  also  in  Galen' s  book  on 
the  " critical  days,"  or  astrology  was  treated  as 
a  special  science  in  the  form  of  a  connected  sys- 
tem, as  is  done,  for  instance,  in  the  "latromathe- 

152 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPERSTITION 

matica"  of  Hermes  Trisinegistus.  Such  text- 
books of  astrology  obtained  publicity  in  large 
numbers  from  about  the  fourteenth  century  on. 
Whoever  may  be  inclined  to  cast  a  glance  into  the 
learned  work  of  Sudhoff  will  be  astonished  to 
observe  the  extent  to  which  iathromathematics 
nourished  in  the  second  half  of  the  middle  ages 
and  at  the  turning-point  of  the  Eenaissance.  Still 
another  form  was  to  impart  to  the  public  their  as- 
trological doctrines  in  the  form  of  short  sentences. 
We  find  nothing  in  such  works  regarding  the 
intricate  calculations  and  methods  by  which  en- 
deavors were  made  to  fathom  the  language  of 
the  stars,  but  astrological  results  were  communi- 
cated in  concise,  aphoristic  sentences.  This  was 
done  in  the  "  Centiloquium  "  of  Ptolemy,  a  work 
which  in  a  hundred  brief  sayings  brings  an 
epitome  of  astrological  wisdom  to  market.  The 
work  enjoyed  the  highest  esteem  in  the  mid- 
dle ages.  Such  a  book,  therefore,  would  corre- 
spond to  that  form  of  modern  literary  production, 
which,  under  the  title  "Method  of  acquiring 
this  or  that  accomplishment  within  a  short  pe- 
riod, ' '  is  advertised  to  us  modern  people  in  the 
daily  press.  Moreover,  the  * '  Centiloquium ' '  of 
Ptolemy  had  many  imitators.  Such  a  work  is 
found,  for  instance,  in  Arabic  literature,  and 
contains  astrologic  wisdom  condensed  into  150 

153 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

brief  sentences  by  the  astrologer  Alinaiisor,  who 
furnished  the  handbook  upon  request  of  his 
ruler;  the  Arabian,  Bethem,  has  produced  a 
similar  work.  We  find  analogous  works  appear- 
ing later  in  the  middle  ages.  Eventually,  the 
doctrines  of  astrology  were  put  into  neat  rhymes; 
thus,  for  instance,  Heinrich  von  Eantzau,  who 
departed  this  life  1598  as  governor  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  celebrates  in  100  well-turned  verses 
the  significance  of  the  planets  in  relation  to  the 
physical  and  mental  welfare  of  humanity.  We 
shall  again  refer  to  this  subject  when  considering 
astrology  of  the  middle  ages.  The  iatromath- 
ematic  passages  in  the  above-mentioned  wri- 
tings of  Ptolemy,  Hermes,  and  Galen  furnished 
the  foundation  for  all  later  astrologico-medical 
theories.  For  what  the  middle  ages  believed 
regarding  the  medical  importance  of  the  sidereal 
world,  especially  of  the  planets  and  the  zodiac, 
was  nothing  but  the  immediate  continuation,  or 
elaboration,  of  the  astrologic  teachings  of  Ptol- 
emy and  other  authors  of  the  first  Christian  cen- 
turies. 

In  the  first  place,  every  portion  of  the  human 
frame  was  placed  under  the  influence  of  a  certain 
celestial  body. 

The  five  planets  already  known  to  the  an- 
cients, as  well  as  sun  and  moon,  governed,  ac- 

154 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEKSTITION 

cording  to  Hermes,  the  following  parts  of  the 
body: 

The  sun,  the  right  eye. 
The  moon,  the  left  eye. 
Saturn,  hearing. 
Jupiter,  the  brain. 
Mars,  the  blood. 
Venus,  taste  and  smell. 
Mercury,  tongue  and  gullet. 


However,  the  influence  which  sun,  moon,  and 
the  planets  exercised  upon  the  human  body 
gradually  became  more  intricate.  It  was  no 
longer  satisfactory  to  enumerate  relations  be- 
tween the  bodies  of  heaven  and  the  human  organs 
of  such  a  general  nature  as  given  by  the  above 
table  of  Hermes.  All  parts  and  functions  of 
the  body  were  to  be  brought  into  the  closest  rela- 
tions with  the  planets.  Thus,  for  instance, 
the  celebrated  humanist,  Marsilius  Ficinus,  the 
friend  of  the  Medici  (1433  to  1499),  depicts 
most  minutely  in  a  book  "On  Life,"  which  was 
much  read  in  its  time,  the  relations  between  the 
body  and  the  planets.  This  was  also  done  by 
Heinrich  von  Eantzau,  in  his  "Tractus  Astro- 
logicus,"  which  in  its  time  was  very  celebrated. 
There  we  read  regarding  these  conditions  as 
follows: 

155 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

SATURN  governs  the  spleen,  the  bladder,  the  bones, 
the  teeth,  and,  in  part,  the  circulating  juices  of 
the  body;  causes  the  color  of  the  skin  of  man  to 
be  dark  yellowish;  impedes  or  promotes  growth; 
causes  the  eyes  to  be  small,  and  prevents  the 
growth  of  the  beard. 

JUPITER  governs  the  lungs,  the  ribs,  cartilages,  the 
liver,  arteries,  the  pulse,  and  the  development  of 
human  semen;  causes  the  white  color  of  the  skin, 
and  gives  a  good  figure. 

MARS  governs  the  bile,  kidneys,  veins,  and  sexual 
organs,  and  of  these  especially  the  testicles; 
makes  hair  red  and  the  temper  irascible,  and 
inclined  to  outrages  of  various  kinds. 

VENUS  governs  the  uterus,  the  breasts,  the  sexual 
organs,  the  spermatic  tubes,  the  loins,  and  the 
buttocks;  endows  man  with  physical  beauty,  fur- 
nishes him  with  long  hair,  round  eyes,  and  a 
well-formed  face;  but  it  is  inexcusable  on  the 
part  of  this  star  that  it  presented  mankind  with 
gonorrhea. 

MERCURY  governs  all  mental  processes — memory, 
imagination,  the  brain  with  its  nerves,  the  hands, 
feet,  and  legs,  the  bones  and  the  bile;  causes  man 
to  be  light-fingered. 

THE  SUN  governs  the  brain,  nerves,  urine,  the  right 
eye  of  the  male  and  the  left  one  of  the  female, 
the  optic  nerves,  and  the  entire  right  half  of  the 
body;  gives  a  good  complexion  to  man. 

THE  MOON  governs  the  brain,  mouth,  belly,  intes- 
tines, bladder,  taste,  the  organs  of  reproduction, 
the  left  eye  of  the  male,  the  right  eye  of  the 
female,  and  the  feminine  liver,  and  the  entire 
left  half  of  the  body. 

156 


SCIENCE  AND   SUPERSTITION 

The  signs  of  the  zodiac,  like  the  planets,  exert 
full  control  over  the  various  parts  of  the  body. 
Honest  Bartisch,  of  Konigsbruck  (1535  to  1606), 
has  given  us  in  his  u  Eye- Service  "  an  illustra- 
tion of  these  relations.  Fig.  4  is  a  reproduction 
of  this  plate  of  Bartisch. 

The  sun,  moon,  planets,  and  zodiac  regulated 
not  only  the  life  of  the  various  limbs  of  living  man 
placed  under  their  special  care,  but  their  ac- 
tivity commenced  at  that  moment  when  the 
foundation  was  just  about  to  be  laid  for  the  future 
bodily  existence  of  a  mortal — i.e.,  at  the  moment 
of  conception.  If,  during  this  critical  process, 
the  respective  bodies  of  the  heavens  were  in  an 
unfortunate  conjunction,  the  members  of  the 
future  being,  the  most  primitive  forms  of  which 
had  just  been  founded,  were  bound  to  suffer. 
Naturally,  however,  only  those  parts  of  the  body 
were  affected  by  this  destiny  which  were  in  the 
care  of  stars  that  happened  to  be  in  uupropitious 
conjunction  at  the  time. 

If  the  act  of  conception  had  passed  without 
evil  influence  on  those  that  were  actively  and 
passively  participating  in  it,  the  product  of  that 
hour  could  by  no  means  be  sure  that  this  or  that 
planet  would  not  maliciously  thwart  the  ease  and 
tranquillity  of  its  embryonic  and  fetal  life.  For 
sun,  moon,  and  the  seven  planets  each  governed 

157 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

one  month  of  intra-uteriue  life,  as  is  explained 
by  Jacobus  Forliviensis.  Saturn  reigns  during 
the  first  month  of  pregnancy,  Jupiter  in  the 
second,  Mars  in  the  third,  the  sun  in  the  fourth, 
Venus  in  the  fifth,  Mercury  in  the  sixth,  the  moon 
in  the  seventh;  the  eighth  month  is  ruled  again 
by  Saturn,  and  this  latter  planet  now  shows  itself 
to  be  so  malicious  that  it  immediately  destroys 
all  life  born  in  the  eighth  month.  Jupiter  again 
takes  control  during  the  ninth  month,  and,  as 
this  star  is  fond  of  warmth  and  humidity,  and, 
therefore,  a  friend  of  life  in  any  form,  no  danger 
is  to  be  feared  for  a  fetus  entering  the  world 
during  this  month.  However,  after  the  nine 
months  of  pregnancy  have  passed  without  evil 
interference  by  the  planets,  Mars  once  more  is  in 
command,  and  his  influence  helps  in  accomplish- 
ing a  normal  birth. 

After  the  fetus  had  successfully  passed  all 
dangers  which  the  planets  could  cause  during 
the  nine  months  of  intra- uterine  life,  and  after  it 
had  successfully  matured,  the  hour  of  birth 
might,  after  all,  be  accompanied  with  other 
quite  severe  sidereal  complications.  For  if  any 
planet  was  in  an  unfavorable  sign,  or  if  the  rela- 
tions between  the  signs  of  the  zodiac  and  the  sun 
or  the  moon  were  not  quite  in  their  regular  order, 
those  members  which  were  presided  over  by  the 

158 


FIG.  4 — THE  RELATION  OF  THE  PARTS  OF  THE  HUMAN 
BODY  TO  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  ZODIAC 


SUPEESTITIOX  IX  MEDICINE 

respective  stars  were  made  to  suffer.  The  cor- 
rect casting  of  the  medical  horoscope,  therefore, 
required  the  most  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
minute  of  birth,  with  simultaneous  occurrences 
in  the  canopy  of  heaven.  Provident  fathers, 
accordingly,  were  mindful  of  having  an  astrolo- 
ger, during  the  hour  of  birth,  in  the  room  in 
which  the  confinement  was  to  take  place,  so  that 
he  might  be  able  to  ascertain  as  accurately  as 
possible  the  celestial  occurrences  which  would 
determine  the  bodily  welfare  of  the  new-born, 
and  to  arrange  them  for  the  horoscope. 

After  the  young  mortal  had  safely  arrived, 
and  if  a  fortunate  destiny  had  placed  in  his  cradle 
a  favorable  medical  horoscope,  both  for  the  hour 
during  which  the  first  material  foundation  had 
been  laid  for  his  life  and  also  for  the  hour  of  his 
birth,  he  had  overcome  only  a  small  part  of  the 
troubles  which  the  starry  world  might  be  able  to 
inflict  on  his  bodily  welfare.  If  the  various 
signs  of  heaven  appeared  in  unfavorable  con- 
junction, or  if  the  moon  entered  into  any  fatal 
relations  with  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  members 
of  the  body  which  were  under  the  influence  of 
the  respective  celestial  bodies  were  still  im- 
periled. These  dangers  might  threaten  not  only 
one  individual,  but  they  were  capable,  event- 
ually, even  of  calling  down  epidemics  and  pesti- 

160 


SCIENCE  AND   SUPEBSTITIQN 

lence  upon  all  humanity.  After  any  form  of 
disease  had  taken  hold  of  a  person  its  course, 
treatment,  and  termination  could  be  clearly  read 
in  the  stars  of  heaven.  It  was  necessary,  above 
all,  to  ascertain  the  day,  hour,  and  minute  when 
the  disease  appeared.  Unfortunately,  this  must 
have  been  quite  difficult  at  times  ;  for  many  dis- 
eases begin  so  insidiously  that  the  moment  of  the 
attack  is  completely  beyond  precise  definition. 
In  such  a  case  one  did  the  best  that  could  be 
done,  and  probably  took  as  the  moment  of  at- 
tack the  first  complaints  of  the  patient  regarding 
his  disorder.  After  the  appearance  of  the  dis- 
ease was  dated  in  such  a  manner,  the  heavenly 
body,  in  the  ascendant  at  this  period,  was  then 
ascertained  ;  thus,  the  position  and  the  course 
and  the  phases  of  the  moon,  the  relations  of  sun 
and  moon  to  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac,  and 
the  planets  would  be  noted.  It  was  necessary 
to  observe  whether  the  moon  was  in  opposition, 
quadrature,  or  conjunction  to  the  planets  while 
she  stood  in  the  sign  of  this  or  that  figure  of  the 
zodiac.  From  these  observations  clear  conclu- 
sions were  first  drawn  regarding  the  general  con- 
dition, the  character,  the  duration,  and  the 
prognosis  of  the  affection.  These  conclusions, 
however,  were  by  no  means  satisfactory  as  yet. 
An  attempt  was  therefore  made  to  obtain  a  much 

161 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

more  detailed  insight  into  the  causes,  complica- 
tions, and  therapy  of  the  case  in  question  by 
means  of  astrology,  and  such  information  was 
abundantly  provided  in  the  Hedicina  Astrologica. 
In  the  first  place,  the  fact  that  sun,  moon, 
planets,  and  the  signs  of  the  zodiac  shared  the 
rule  over  the  various  organs  of  the  body,  and 
furnished  positive  intimations  regarding  the 
cause  of  the  disease  in  question,  made  it  un- 
necessary for  the  physician  to  trouble  himself  at 
all  with  an  examination  of  the  patient  in  order  to 
ascertain  cause  and  localization  of  the  affection. 
One  glance  at  the  conjunctions  of  the  stars  was 
sufficient  to  show  which  organ  of  the  patient  hap- 
pened to  be  endangered  by  the  celestial  constella- 
tion. If  an  individual  complained,  for  instance, 
of  disturbed  digestion,  and  if  the  heavenly  body 
that  presided  over  the  liver  presented  any  re- 
markable phenomena,  naturally  only  the  liver 
was  responsible  for  the  case  in  question,  and  the 
diagnosis  was  made.  Complications  were  to  be 
expected  if  the  stars  which  controlled  the  circu- 
lation of  blood  and  mucus  showed  unfavorable 
signs.  It  was  even  possible  for  the  physician 
well  versed  in  astrology  to  determine  in  advance 
the  period  of  time  at  which  the  occurrence  of 
such  humoral  complications  might  be  expected, 
as  he  had  learned  that  the  various  hours  of  the 

162 


SCIENCE  AND   SUPEESTITION 

day  and  of  the  night  were  to  exert  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  juices  of  the  body.  For  in- 
stance, Almanzor  explains  that  the  first  three 
hours  of  day  and  of  night  are  in  closest  relation  to 
the  blood,  whereas  the  second  quarters  of  day 
and  of  night  hold  sway  over  the  yellow,  the 
third  over  the  black  (bile),  and  the  last  quarters, 
finally,  over  the  mucus.  However,  not  only  were 
the  various  hours  of  great  importance  to  the 
course  of  the  disease,  but  certain  days  of  the 
disease — so-called  critical  days — were  of  still 
greater  significance.  It  is  true,  the  doctrine  of 
these  critical  days  was  by  110  means  the  property 
ofMedicina  Astrologica,  but  the  Corpus  Hippocrat- 
icum  already  contained  a  book  Ilepi  xpfytitM&T. 
But  the  followers  of  Hippocrates  had  developed 
this  theory  only  from  humoro-pathological  prem- 
ises, and  Galen,  in  his  work  xp^^l/^ai  ?/"'/><**,  had 
only  included  astrology  in  order  to  explain  and 
to  prove  the  entire  doctrine  of  crises  (compare 
also  Sudhoff).  He  calculated  in  accordance 
with  moon  weeks  and  months,  and  in  such  a 
manner  that  a  week  counted  six  days  and  seven- 
teen and  one-half  hours,  and  the  month  of  the 
moon  only  twenty-six  days  and  twenty-two 
hours.  The  seventh,  fourteenth,  twentieth, 
and  twenty -seventh  days  were  to  be  consid- 
ered critical  days  of  the  first  order.  "Con- 

163 


SUPEESTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

template,"  says  Galen,  "the  critical  days  in 
the  course  of  the  moon  in  the  angles  of  a  geo- 
metrical figure  of  sixteen  sides ;  if  you  find 
these  angles  in  a  favorable  constellation,  the  pa- 
tient will  fare  well;  badly,  however,  if  evil  signs 
prevail. ''  But  not  only  were  certain  hours  and 
certain  days  of  the  week  said  to  exert  an  impor- 
tant astrological  influence  upon  the  human  body, 
such  an  influence  was  ascribed  also  to  certain 
years.  Such  years  were  called  ' '  Anni  Scansiles ' ' 
— that  is,  ' '  climacteric. ' '  The  expression  ' ( Anni 
Climacterici ' '  was  also  used,  but  this  designation 
has  nothing  in  common  with  the  modern  concep- 
tion of  the  climacteric.  It  was  believed  that 
the  condition  of  the  body  underwent  a  thorough 
revolution  during  these  climacteric  years,  and 
that  a  new  stage,  as  it  were,  of  organic  life  was 
reached.  Heinrich  von  Rantzau,  the  astronomic 
aristocrat  and  statesman,  accordingly  defines  the 
climacteric  years  as  "anni,  in  quibus  ad  sequentis 
temporis  constitutionem  sese  vertat  cetas  et  inflectat. ' ' 
Therefore,  such  years  should  in  themselves  har- 
bor dangers  for  corporeal  existence,  and  offer  no 
favorable  prospect  for  the  course  of  diseases. 

Two  kinds  of  such  climacteric  years  were  dis- 
tinguished. One  kind  was  brought  about  by 
multiplication  with  the  figure  7,  and  they  were 
called  anni  hebdomatici,  or  climacterid  (stride  sic 

164 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEESTITION 

dicta}.  Accordingly,  these  were  the  years  7, 14, 
21,  28,  35,  42,  49,  56,  63.  These  nine  years 
formed  the  climactericus  parvus,  whereas  the  years 
77,  84,  91,  98,  105,  112,  119,  126  were  called  the 
climactericus  magnus.  A  multiplication  which 
extended  further,  to  171,  reached  the  climacteri- 
cus maximus.  The  other  kind  of  climacteric 
years  was  obtained  by  multiplication  with  9,  and 
such  years  were  called  anni  enneatici,  or  decretorii. 
These  were  the  years  9,  18,  27,  36,  45,  54,  63,  72, 
81,  90,  99,  108,  etc. 

However,  these  climacteric  years  did  not  all 
present  the  same  dangers,  but  the  peril  inherent 
in  them  varied  considerably.  It  was  determined 
by  the  multiplicator,  and  here  especially  the  3 
and  the  7  played  a  very  fatal  role.  The  21st 
year  of  life  (3x7),  and  the  27th  (3x9),  were 
one  grade  higher  in  the  scale  of  dangers  than 
those  obtained  by  other  multiplicators.  Still 
more  dangerous  were  those  years  arrived  at  by 
ascending  in  spaces  of  three  hebdomads;  there- 
fore, the  21st  year  of  life — i.e.,  the  period  of  three 
hebdomads — namely,  3x7;  the  42d  year,  as  a 
period  of  2x3  hebdomads — i.e.,  2x21;  the  63d 
year  of  life,  as  a  period  of  3  hebdomads — i.e., 
3x21;  84  =  to4x21;  105  =  5x21,  etc.  The 
49th  year  of  life  and  the  56th  year  of  life  were 
said  to  be  still  more  dangerous  than  these  years 

165 


obtained  from  the  period  of  three  hebdomads. 
It  is  true,  the  cause  of  the  danger  is  quite  obvious 
in  the  case  of  the  49th  year;  it  was  the  ominous 
7x7  which  here  gave  rise  to  forebodings.  And 
it  was  not  quite  comprehensible  what  caused  the 
bad  reputation  of  innocent  56;  Eantzau  fails  to 
give  us  a  sufficient  explanation. 

But  the  most  dangerous  climacteric  year  was 
the  63d,  for  this  was  made  up  of  7  x  9.  It  was, 
therefore,  an  annus  Tiebdomaticus  and,  at  the  same 
time,  also  an  annus  enneaticus,  for  it  belonged 
both  to  the  class  of  those  climacteric  years  which 
were  formed  by  the  multiplier  7,  as  also  to  that 
which  were  obtained  by  the  multiplier  9.  It  was 
most  natural,  therefore,  that  a  period  of  life  which 
from  two  sides  was  fraught  with  danger,  like  the 
unfortunate  63d  year  of  life,  was  bound  to  appear 
equally  suspicious  to  the  healthy  and  to  the  sick. 
It  is  probable  that  this  year  was,  therefore,  called 
androdctSy  because,  as  Eantzau  believes,  it  debili- 
tates and  breaks  vitality. 

It  would  appear,  moreover,  that  the  climac- 
teric years  enjoyed  general  consideration  in  an- 
cient times  as  well  as  in  the  middle  ages,  for 
Eantzau  names  a  number  of  celebrated  men  who 
were  said  to  have  expressed  themselves  regard- 
ing the  significance  of  these  years,  such  as  Plato, 
Censorinus,  Gellius,  Philo  Judseus,  Macrobius, 

166 


SCIENCE  AND   SUPEKSTITION 

Cicero,  Boetius,  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Augustine, 
Bede,  Georgius  Valla,  aud  others.  Not  satisfied 
with  this  statement,  Kantzau  also  mentions  in  his 
catalog  a  multitude  of  prominent  men  who  all 
departed  this  life  in  their  63d  year,  and  thus,  as 
he  believes,  had  established  the  dangerousness  of 
this  year  by  their  death. 

It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the  63d  birthday 
was  celebrated  with  great  apprehension  during 
the  entire  middle  ages,  and  the  respective  indi- 
vidual did  not  draw  an  easy  breath  until  after 
the  ominous  year  had  been  successfully  passed. 

However,  the  stars  knew  not  only  how  to  tell 
particulars  regarding  the  probable  course  and 
possible  complications  of  diseases,  but  they  also 
gave  information  regarding  very  special  forms  of 
affections.  It  was  possible,  thus,  to  learn  from 
them  at  what  time  diseases  of  the  eye  were  to  be 
feared,  when  mental  diseases  were  threatening, 
when  hemorrhages  were  to  be  expected,  etc. 
The  astrologically  trained  physician  was  able 
to  obtain  prompt  information  from  the  stars  re- 
garding contingent  surgical  accidents;  for  there 
existed  various  conjunctions  of  the  celestial 
bodies,  according  to  Ptolemy,  which  surely 
pointed  to  wounds,  fractures  of  bones,  burns, 
concussions,  and  other  lesions.  In  fact,  it  was 
possible  to  see  in  advance,  from  the  celestial 

167 


SUPERSTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

phenomena,  what  limbs  would  be  exposed  to 
forcible  injury;  thus,  certain  conjunctions  of  the 
planets  were  said  to  prognosticate  with  certainty 
wounds  of  the  head;  others,  of  the  face;  others, 
again,  of  the  hands  and  feet,  of  the  fingers  and 
toes,  of  the  arms  and  legs,  of  the  trunk  and 
neck.  Astrology,  moreover,  was  not  satisfied 
with  the  prognostic  and  diagnostic  activity  which 
we  have  just  mentioned,  but  it  also  interfered  in 
therapy,  internal  as  well  as  external. 

Regarding,  in  the  first  place,  internal  medic- 
inal treatment,  the  astrologer  knew  how  to  give 
positive  information  about  the  same;  for  all  ter- 
restrial beings,  of  an  organic  as  well  as  of  an  in- 
organic nature,  were  under  the  influence  of  the 
sun,  the  moon,  of  the  planets,  and  of  the  signs  of 
the  zodiac.  The  stars  imparted  certain  powers 
to  the  planets,  to  animals,  and  to  all  structures 
of  the  inorganic  world.  If,  therefore,  it  were 
known  what  stars  happened  to  appear  in  the 
vault  of  heaven  at  the  beginning  of  the  disease 
or  of  its  treatment,  it  was  only  necessary  seri- 
ously to  consider  the  organic  and  inorganic 
structures  under  their  supervision,  and  the 
remedies  required  for  a  successful  control  of  the 
disease  were  presently  at  hand.  But  if  the 
healer  wished  to  be  absolutely  certain  what  medi- 
caments to  choose,  the  phases  of  the  moon  and 
the  condition  of  the  sun  were  also  to  be  taken 

168 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPERSTITION 

into  consideration.  Some  remedies  could  be  ad- 
ministered only  when  the  moon  was  in  a  partic- 
ular relation  to  certain  planets  or  stars  of  the 
zodiac.  These  remedies  were  principally  emet- 
ics and  purges. 

Similarly  to  the  internal  clinician,  so  also  in 
surgery,  the  healer  was  entirely  dependent  upon 
the  conjunction  of  the  stars.  The  primeval  Baby- 
lonian directed  that  the  body  must  not  be  touched 
with  iron  during  certain  conjunctions  of  the 
stars,  and  this  was  also  prescribed  in  all  cases  of 
Astrologica  Medica.  It  appears,  however,  that 
this  direction  obtained  less  general  surgical 
recognition,  but  referred  principally  to  blood- 
letting. Even  to  this  limited  extent  it  implied 
a  high-handed  interference  with  the  art  of  the 
ancient  as  well  as  of  the  medieval  physician; 
for  venesection  occupied  an  entirely  different 
position  among  therapeutic  measures  during  that 
period  than  it  does  to-day.  Whereas  modern 
medicine  does  not  consider  blood-letting  neces- 
sary, except  in  the  rarest  cases,  ancient  as  well 
as  medieval  professors  of  medicine  believed  that 
they  could  under  no  circumstances  dispense  with 
it;  in  fact,  it  is  probable  that  until  the  seven- 
teenth century  there  was  scarcely  any  form  of 
disease  the  treatment  of  which  would  have  been 
possible  without  withdrawal  of  blood.  An  actual 
system  of  blood-letting  had  been  elaborated  under 

169 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

the  influence  of  humoro-pathological  opinions. 
Every  vein  that  could  be  reached  with  the  lancet 
was  acted  upon,  and  the  school  of  medicine  of 
the  period  was  punctiliously  careful  in  teaching 
which  vessel  presented  the  most  suitable  point 
of  attack  for  the  hand  of  the  physician  in  this 
or  that  form  of  disease.  The  therapeutic  sub- 
tleties which  were  thus  brought  to  light  are 
beyond  description.  Thus,  a  withdrawal  of 
blood  from  veins  on  the  right  side  of  the  body 
was  said  to  yield  an  essentially  different  effect 
from  left-sided  venesection,  and  each  individual 
vein  of  the  body  promised  a  special  advantage 
which  was  peculiar  to  this  one  vein.  The  physi- 
cian of  that  period  surely  had  enough  to  do  to 
bear  in  mind  all  the  numerous  therapeutic  effects 
which  he  was  to  achieve  by  the  opening  of  the 
various  veins.  To  facilitate  this  difficult  art  to  a 
certain  degree  special  figures  were  designed — so- 
called  venesection  manikins,  in  which  the  numer- 
ous points  for  bleeding  were  most  carefully 
annotated.  Fig.  5  (page  175)  shows  such  a  pic- 
ture. It  indicates  no  less  than  53  different 
localities  for  venesection,  and  as  each  and  every 
one  of  them  again  implied  four  or  five,  or  pos- 
sibly even  more,  methods  of  blood-letting,  we 
may  consider  that  there  were  many  hundreds  of 
different  possibilities  for  phlebotomy.  If  it  was 

170 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEBSTITION 

easy  to  become  lost  in  the  labyrinth,  of  this  blood- 
thirsty therapy,  the  difficulty  of  a  methodical 
application  of  venesection  was  very  materially 
increased  by  astrology;  for  astrology  differen- 
tiated between,  first,  favorable,  then  doubtful, 
and,  finally,  unfavorable  days  for  venesection, 
basing  this  opinion  upon  certain  positions  be- 
tween sun,  moon,  and  planets.  Then  the  various 
ages  of  life  had  also  different  days  for  venesec- 
tion; days,  for  instance,  which  promised  to  be 
exceptionally  successful  for  venesection  in  the 
young,  offered  very  unfavorable  prospects  to  the 
aged.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  period  from  the 
first  quadrature  of  the  moon  to  the  opposition 
was  said  to  be  excellent  for  bleeding  in  adoles- 
cence, whereas  this  period  was  by  no  means  in- 
viting for  phlebotomy  in  those  who  had  reached 
the  senile  period.  The  chances  for  venesection 
became  rather  intricate  in  their  different  aspects. 
Thus,  for  instance,  Stonier  taught: 

f  the  sun  prohibits  venesection  two 

~  , .         -I      days  before  and  one  day  after. 

Conjunction  of  J  J 

the  moon  with  1  c  *  )  prohibits  venesection  one 

&>aturn    (  day  before  and  one  day 

)  after. 

f  (  Sun          )  prohibits  venesection 
Quadrature  of  \  Saturn    Uwelve  hours  before  and 
the  moon  with  }  Marg        J  twelve  hours  after. 

<.    (  Sun          )  prohibits  venesection  one 
Opposition  of    1  gat  (d       before  and  Qne  d 

the  moon  with  }  Mars 

171 


SUPEESTITIOK  IN  MEDICINE 

We  see,  therefore,  that  the  physician  of  that 
time  was  compelled  to  be  well -versed  in  astron- 
omy unless  he  meant  to  commit  grave  mistakes 
against  the  doctrines  of  Mediclna  Astrologica. 
Such  sins  could  eventually  become  rather  dan- 
gerous to  the  physician,  for  the  code  of  Hammu- 
rabi (about  2200,  B.C.,  ruler  of  Babylon)  threat- 
ens the  operator,  for  not  quite  unobjectionable 
surgical  procedures,  with  the  loss  of  his  hands 
(Winckler,  page  33,  §218). 

In  order  to  satisfy  the  astrological  require- 
ment of  the  physician  most  thoroughly,  there 
arose  in  the  middle  ages  a  very  peculiar  litera- 
ture. Under  the  name  of  an  almanac  or  caleu- 
darium,  thick  folio  volumes  appeared,  which 
enumerated,  in  long  tables,  the  various  positions 
of  the  planets  and  of  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  so 
that  the  astrologer  was  enabled  to  note  the  fate 
of  mankind  rapidly  and  easily.  The  contents  of 
such  calendaria  are  beyond  description.  Apart 
from  remarks  which  referred  to  all  occurrences 
of  civil  life,  was  stated  the  exact  period  when  to 
have  the  hair  cut,  when  venesection  was  to  be 
performed,  when  to  draw  teeth,  when  to  take  a 
bath,  etc.  Even  the  proper  time  for  prayer  was 
indicated  by  such  a  calendarium.  According  to 
the  experience  of  Peter  of  Abano,  the  conjunction 
of  the  moon  with  Jupiter  in  the  Dragon  was 

172 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEKSTITION 

sure  to  effect  an  answer  to  prayer.  Hieronymus 
Cardaims  had  discovered,  with  the  aid  of  astrol- 
ogy, that  a  request  was  sure  to  be  complied  with 
if  a  prayer  was  offered  to  the  Virgin  Mary  on 
the  first  day  of  April,  at  8  A.M.  (Mohsen,  Vol. 
II.,  page  423).  Physicians  excelled  in  the  com- 
pilation of  such  calendaria,  especially  during  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  Professors, 
forensic  physicians,  surgeons — in  fact,  all  repre- 
sentatives of  medical  art — were  equally  intent 
upon  instructing  the  public  by  calendaria  in  re- 
gard to  the  most  various  branches  of  Medicina 
Astrologica ;  thus,  for  instance,  David  Herliz, 
physician  at  Prenzlau,  supplied  Pomerania, 
Mecklenburg,  and  the  Margravate  of  Branden- 
burg with  calendars  for  fifty  years,  from  the  year 
1584.  The  Marburg  professor  of  medicine,  Vic- 
torinus  Schonfelder,  played  a  similar  role  during 
the  same  period  for  western  Germany.  The 
physician,  as  almanac-maker,  is  probably  one  of 
the  most  wonderful  results  of  medical  supersti- 
tion, and  this  aberration  of  medicine  clung  so 
firmly  to  the  people  that,  even  in  the  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries,  certain  days  of  the 
year  were  considered  as  especially  favorable  for 
venesection,  and  the  calendars  took  particular 
pains  to  call  the  attention  of  the  public  most 
emphatically  to  good  days  for  blood-letting. 

173 


Explanation  of  Fig.  5 

A.  The  astronomic  signs  which  are  noted  on  the 
different  parts  of  the  body  indicate  the  signs  of  the 
zodiac,  under  the  special  influence  of  which  the  re- 
spective members  of  the  body  are  said  to  be. 

B.  The  numerals  which   are   found  at  the  most 
varied  parts  of  the   body  refer    to  indications   for 
venesection,  as  stated  below.      In  these    localities, 
which  are  characterized  by  figures,  blood  was  drawn 
for  the  most  various  affections,  namely  in: 

1.  Pains  of  the  eyes  and  head;  affections  of  the  face, 

including  eruptions. 

2.  Affections  of  the  head;  mental  disturbances. 

3.  Affections  of  the  eye  of  various  kinds. 
4  and  5.  Pains  in  the  ears;   lachrymation. 

6  and  7.  Tinnitus  aurium;  tremor  of  the  head. 

8.  Disturbances  of  hearing. 

9.  Heaviness  of  the  head;  flow  from  the  eyes.  Vene- 

section here  also  renders  memory  more  acute, 
as  well  as  the  activity  of  the  brain  in  general. 

10.  Heaviness  of  the  head. 

11.  Ulcers  of  the  lips  and  of  the  gums. 

12.  The  veins  of  the  palate  are  to  be  opened  in  erup- 

tions in  the  face,  in  toothache,  in  affections 
of  the  palate  and  of  the  mouth,  heaviness  of  the 
head. 

13.  Neuralgia  and  toothache. 

14.  Headaches,  mental  disturbances. 
15    To  render  the  memory  more  acute. 

16.  In  all  affections  of  the  mouth  or  of  the  chest. 

17.  Fetid  breath. 

18.  Pains  in  the  jaws;  foetor  e  naso;  eruptions  of  the 

face. 

19.  Neuralgia  of  the  head;  eruptions. 

174 


FIG.  5— VENESECTION  IN  ITS  ASTRONOMICAL  CONNECTION 


SUPEESTITIQX  1^  MEDICINE 

20.  Disturbances  in  the  chest  of  various  kinds. 

21.  Flow  from  the  eyes;  headache;  epilepsy. 

22.  Diseases  of  the  chest  of  various  kinds,  including 

dyspnea;  headache;  stitches  in  the  side. 

23.  Diseases  of  the  liver,  injuries  to  the  right  side  of 

the  body;  nosebleed. 

24.  Affections  of  the  head  and  the  eyes;  pains  in  the 

shoulder-blades;  coryza. 

25.  Pains  in  the  heart,  in  the  sides,  and  in  the  mouth. 

26.  Spasms  in  the  fingers;  pains  in  the  spleen  and  in 

the  limbs;  epistaxis;  stitches  in  the  liver. 

27.  Pains  of  the  central  parts  of  the  body. 

28.  Affections  of  the  lower  portions  of  the  body. 

29.  Heart-disease. 

30.  To  render  vision  more  acute,  and  to  strengthen 

the  dexterity  of  the  body. 

31.  Headache,  fever,  various  kinds  of  cataract,  glau- 

coma, etc.;  cloudiness  of  the sclera;  inflamma- 
tions of  the  tongue  and  of  the  pharynx. 

32.  Pains  of  the  head,  lungs,  spleen. 

33.  Diseases  of  the  blood;  chlorosis;  jaundice;  affec- 

tions of  the  head  ;  stitches  in  the  right  side. 
Blood-letting  in  this  locality  purifies  liver, 
spleen,  breast. 

34.  Same  as  32. 

36.  Affections  of  the  spleen,  meningeal  inflamma- 

tion ;  hemorrhoids  ;  stitches  in  the  left  side  ; 
renal  affections;  dysmenorrhea. 

37.  Affections  of  the  spleen  and  of  the  bladder. 

38.  Dropsy;  disturbances  of  digestion;  ulcers  of  long 

standing. 

39.  Melancholia  ;     venesection      in      this     locality 

strengthens  the  kidneys. 

176 


SCIENCE  AND  SUPEBSTITION 

40.  Hemorrhoids  ;  strangury  ;  disturbances  of  diges- 

tion; affections  of  the  bladder  and  of  the  sexual 
organs. 

41.  Venesection  here  acts  upon  the  proper  condition 

of  the  body  in  general. 

42.  Diseases  of  the  kidney,  bladder,  stone,  testicles. 

43.  Venesection  here  strengthens  the  gait. 

44.  All  kinds  of  pains  of  the  lower  extremities,  such 

as  arthritis,  gout;  also  in  dysmenorrhea. 

45.  Affections  of  the  sexual  organs  ;  diseases  of  the 

kidney  and  bladder. 

46.  Diseases  of  the  testicles. 

47.  Disturbances     of     menstruation;     sterility     of 

women;  affections  of  the  bladder  and  spleen. 

48.  Various  kinds  of  diseases  of  the  feet. 

49.  Dysmenorrhea;  eruptions  in  the  face  and  on  the 

legs. 

50.  Apoplexy;  paralysis. 

51.  Ophthalmia;  skin  diseases;  cough  ;  oppression  of 

the  chest. 

52.  Dysmenorrhea;  affections  of  the  testicles  ;  costal 

pains. 

53.  Ophthalmia;  dysmenorrhea;    amenorrhea;  skin 

eruptions. 

Such  therapy,  detached  entirely  from  the 
actual  requirements  of  the  case  and  based  only 
upon  observation  of  the  sky,  was  bound  to  be 
attended  with  the  most  unfortunate  results.  The 
suffering  public  was  frequently  but  little  cheered 
by  the  assistance  of  its  physicians,  and  often 
felt  the  desire  to  find  out  what  another  physi- 

177 


SUPEESTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

cian  could  do.  It  appears  that  such  a  condition 
occurred  quite  frequently,  for  Ptolemy,  in  num- 
ber 57  of  his  "Centiloquium,"  gives  special  direc- 
tions under  what  astral  conditions  such  a  change 
of  physician  could  take  place.  He  says  :  "  Cum 
septimum  locum  atque  ejus  dominum  in  cegritudine 
afflictum  widens,  medicum  mutato."  It  appears 
certain,  accordingly,  that  a  general  change  of 
physicians  was  inaugurated  by  the  public  so 
soon  as  the  above  conjunction  was  noted  in  the 
sky. 

Those  who  desired  to  be  very  careful  in  the 
choice  of  their  physician  did  not  change  only 
when  the  conjunction  of  the  stars  recommended  it 
as  advisable,  but  they  also  attempted  to  ascertain 
the  horoscope  of  the  newly  chosen  medical  ad- 
viser, for  medical  wisdom  was  found  in  greatest 
abundance  in  a  man  whose  aspects  showed  a 
certain  form.  "Perfectus  medicus  erit,  cui  Mars 
et  Venus  fuerint  in  sexta,"  says  Almansor. 

This  condition  of  Astrologia  Medico,  was  such  as 
to  weigh  like  an  oppressive  nightmare  upon 
mankind,  not  only  for  centuries  but  for  thou- 
sands of  years,  and  in  this  way  medical  super- 
stition has  slaughtered  more  human  beings  than 
the  most  bloody  wars  ever  did. 

However,  astrology  has  not  always  ruled  our 
kind  with  equal  strength.  There  were  periods 

178 


SCIENCE   AND   SUPEBSTITION 

during  which  belief  in  the  fate- determining 
power  of  the  stars  was  more  dominant,  and  others 
in  which  it  was  feebler.  The  ancient  world, 
which  was  blindly  devoted  to  all  kinds  of  super- 
stition, had  also  cherished  and  fostered  astrology. 
But  when  the  ancient  theory  of  life  was  demol- 
ished later  on,  and  the  Christian  God  of  love  had 
taken  possession  of  the  world,  the  belief  in  the 
fate-determining  power  of  the  stars  was  shaken, 
and  centuries  followed  during  which  Medicina 
Astrologica,  altho  it  did  not  by  any  means  disap- 
pear entirely,  was  forced  more*"  or  less  to  the 
rear.  Astrology  did  not  become  resurrected 
until  scholasticism  and  dogmatism  had  held  back 
the  activity  of  the  mind  from  independent  inves- 
tigation, thus  bringing  about  the  intellectual 
darkness  which  for  centuries  prevailed.  This 
use  of  astrology  truly  forms  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  pages  in  the  history  of  the  develop- 
ment of  our  race,  for  an  actual  furor  astrologicus 
seized  upon  the  world  in  the  course  of  the  thir- 
teenth century.  The  movement  originated  at 
the  court  of  Emperor  Frederick  II.  The  great 
Ghibelliue  was  so  positive  and  so  enthusiastic  an 
adherent  of  all  astrologic  doctrines  that  he  did 
not  decide  upon  any  undertaking  until  he  had 
first  learned  the  opinion  of  the  stars  regarding 
his  enterprise.  It  was  his  firm  belief  that  the 

179 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

stars  prophesied  for  him  a  political  role  which 
was  to  shake  the  entire  world,  and  of  his  astro- 
logical prediction  he  apprised  his  adversary,  the 
pope,  in  the  following  words: 

Fata  volunt,  stellaeque  decent,  animumque  volatus, 
Quod  Fridericus  ego  malleus  orbis  ero. 

But  if  a  ruler  of  high  mental  gifts  is  always 
destined  to  exert  a  powerful  influence  upon  his 
epoch,  how  much  more  telling  is  this  influence 
when  the  contemporaries  of  such  a  monarch  lead 
a  mental  life,  fettered  by  so  many  religious, 
philosophical,  and  physical  prejudices  as  unde- 
niably dominated  mankind  during  the  reign  of 
the  great  Hohenstaufen.  If  these  conditions 
were  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  astrology  in 
general,  circumstances  shaped  themselves  most 
favorably  for  Medicina  Astrologica  in  particular. 
Very  soon  after  the  death  of  the  star -learned 
Hohenstaufen  emperor,  two  highly  talented 
physicians  bound  themselves  body  and  soul  to 
astrology — namely,  Arnald  Bachuone,  called  also, 
after  his  birthplace,  Villanueva,  Arnaldus  Vil- 
lanovanus  or  Arnald  of  Villanova  (1235-1312), 
and  Petrus,  called  also,  after  his  birthplace, 
Abano  near  Padua,  Petrus  de  Apono  or  Petrus 
Aponensis  (1250-1315).  From  that  time  until 
the  seventeenth  century  the  most  eminent  rep- 
resentatives of  all  the  sciences  and  professions 

180 


SCIENCE  AKD  SUPEKSTITION 

devoted  themselves  to  the  doctrines  of  astrology. 
In  the  excellent  work  of  Sudhoff  is  cited  a  not- 
able number  of  physicians — by  no  means  the 
most  unskilful  of  their  day — who  confessed  them- 
selves to  be  iatromathematicians  (i.e.,  medici 
astrologici).  Astrology,  and  with  it  Medicina  As- 
trologica,  reigned  supreme  at  most  of  the  princely 
courts  from  the  thirteenth  to  the  seventeenth 
centuries.  The  Hohenstaufen,  Frederick  II., 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  an  implicit  adherent  to 
astrologic  doctrines;  likewise  the  Yisconti  in 
Milan.  The  royal  court  of  Aragon  in  Palermo 
offered  a  sheltering  asylum  to  astronomy  and 
to  astrology.  Alfonso  X.  of  Castile  was  so  enthu- 
siastic a  friend  of  scientific  astronomy  that  he 
ordered  the  planet-tables  of  Ptolemy  to  be  re- 
stored, with  an  outlay  of  enormous  costs,  by  fifty 
astronomers  called  by  him  to  Toledo.  German 
princes,  such  as  Elector  Joachim  of  Branden- 
burg, Albrecht,  Elector  of  Mayence,  Landgrave 
William  of  Hesse,  Duke  Albrecht  of  Prussia, 
not  only  adhered  to  the  predictions  of  the  stars, 
but  they  also  subscribed  to  the  statements  of  as- 
trological medicine.  Thus,  for  instance,  Thomas 
Erastus  (died  1583)  the  well-known  opponent  of 
Paracelsus,  tells  us  that,  as  body-physician  to 
the  reigning  count  of  Henneberg,  he  was  not 
permitted  to  begin  a  course  of  treatment  until  he 

181 


SUPEKSTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

had  consulted  the  stars.  The  German  emperor, 
Charles  V.,  was  quite  as  constant  a  friend  of  the 
astrologists ;  he  was  instructed  in  astrology  by 
his  teacher,  the  subsequent  pope,  Hadrian  VI. 
The  court  of  Denmark  was  the  center  of  astrolog- 
ical teachings  under  Frederick  II.,  as  no  less  a 
personage  than  Tycho  de  Brahe  was  active  there. 
But  not  only  rulers  favored  astrology,  it  met  with 
implicit  belief  from  highly  enlightened  scholars, 
statesmen,  and  naturalists.  Thus,  Melauchthon 
was  so  convinced  an  adherent  of  all  astrological 
doctrines  that  he  was  incessantly  active  in  their 
favor  by  mouth  and  by  pen.  And  when  fatal 
disease  had  finally  seized  upon  him,  he  was  soon 
satisfied  as  to  the  issue,  in  that  Mars  and  Saturn 
happened  to  be  in  conjunction  (Mohsen,  Vol. 
IL,  page  416). 

However,  men  were  not  wanting  who  coura- 
geously took  up  the  battle  against  astrological  de- 
lusions. Thus,  for  instance,  the  friend  of  Lorenzo 
of  Medici,  the  learned  Count  Pico  of  Mirandola 
(1463-1494)  ;  also  Girolamo  Fracastori  (1483- 
1553),  who  is  known  by  his  didactic  poem  on 
syphilis,  opposed  astrology. 

If  we  now  ask  how  it  was  possible  that  a  super- 
stition like  astrology  could  for  centuries  domi- 
nate Occidental  medicine,  and  was  even  able  to 
influence  the  best  minds  in  its  favor,  an  answer 

182 


SCIENCE  AND  SUPERSTITION 

to  this  question  will  not  be  as  difficult  as  might 
appear  at  first  glance.  The  very  best  and  the 
most  enlightened  minds  are  always  particularly 
affected  by  what  is  enigmatical  and  mysterious 
in  the  phenomena  of  life.  They  perceive  the 
narrow  limits  set  to  our  cognition  of  nature  much 
more  acutely  and  deeply  than  the  average 
mind.  This  consciousness  of  the  insufficiency  of 
our  own  knowledge,  joined  with  an  ardent  desire 
after  a  broadening  of  our  understanding,  tends 
to  turn  the  mind  in  strange  directions.  The 
result  of  clearer  self-knowledge  in  this  modern 
epoch  of  ours  is  an  adverseness  to  any  form  of 
romantic  fancy,  and  is  likely  to  end  in  a  sad 
resignation  that  may  result  in  pessimism.  But 
the  middle  ages,  with  their  exuberant  confidence 
and  faith,  their  belief  in  wonders,  and  their 
romantic  ideas,  did  not  suffer  to  any  great  extent 
from  scientific  apathy.  A  sharply  defined,  mys- 
tic tendency  helped  to  overcome  what  was  inade- 
quate in  the  cognition  of  nature.  And  for  this 
reason  do  we  find  this  mystic  tendency  prominent, 
especially  in  those  representatives  of  that  period 
who,  owing  to  their  mental  capacity,  were  bound 
to  perceive  their  defective  insight  into  the  mani- 
festations of  life  much  more  intensely  than  this 
was  felt  by  the  average  persons  of  narrower  in- 
tellect. 

183 


SUPEKSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

The  conditions  thus  described,  as  well  as  the 
diagnostico-theoretical  principles  on  which  medi- 
cine and  natural  sciences  were  based  in  antiquity 
and  in  the  middle  ages,  until  late  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century  led  many  mentally  gifted  men 
to  consider  astrology  rather  a  refuge  from  the 
current  defective  conception  of  natural  phe- 
nomena than  a  false  doctrine. 


184 


VI 


INFLUENCE    EXERTED     UPON     THE     DEVELOP- 
MENT  OF  SUPERSTITION  BY  MEDICINE  ITSELF 

As  ANCIENT,  medieval,  and  some  more  modern 
theories  of  medicine  have  traveled  over  the  same 
diagnostico-theoretical  roads  as  did  the  natural 
science  of  those  periods,  they  were  naturally 
subject  to  the  same  errors  and  aberrations.  But 
the  consequences  of  their  errors  differed  mate- 
rially. Whereas  natural  science,  in  the  early 
and  middle  ages,  with  its  faulty  diagnostico- 
theoretical  method,  too  frequently  had  recourse 
to  supernatural  factors  to  explain  terrestrial 
phenomena,  and  thus  created  superstition  instead 
of  elucidation,  the  pathology  of  ancient  as  well 
as  of  medieval  medicine  avoided  as  much  as  pos- 
sible any  recourse  to  miraculous  agencies  in 
explaining  the  pathological  phenomena  of  the 
body.  This  it  was  forced  to  do  for  the  sake  of 
self-preservation.  For  what  would  have  become 
of  the  physicians  with  their  art,  which  was  of  a 
purely  material  kind,  working  as  it  did  with 
drug  and  knife,  if  they  themselves  had  traced 
disease  to  supernatural  causes  ?  No  one,  under 

185 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

such  conditions,  would  have  had  any  dealings 
with  mundane  medical  science.  It  is  true,  there 
have  been  times  when  such  a  state  of  things 
actually  existed.  The  physician,  with  his  earthly 
appliances,  was  always  led  astray  as  soon  as 
metaphysical  ideas  had  victoriously  entered 
pathology.  History  affords  numerous  examples 
of  this.  The  cult  of  relics,  the  belief  in  astrology 
during  half  of  the  middle  ages,  show  plainly  to 
what  a  degrading  position  the  physician  was 
reduced  as  soon  as  a  pathology  reckoning  with 
earthly  factors  was  replaced  by  a  metaphysical 
theory  of  disease.  Then  the  physician  was  either 
completely  thrust  aside — a'AA.'  ooQeirai  J.IEV  e$<a 
vodovvrot  6  tarpos,  as  says  Plutarch  (  u  Supersti- 
tion," Vol.  L,  page  412) — or  he  was  forced  to 
submit  to  a  disgraceful  interference.  All  schools 
of  medicine,  therefore,  from  the  humoral  path- 
ology of  the  followers  of  Hippocrates  to  the  so- 
called  parasitism  of  the  nineteenth  century,  have 
avoided  as  much  as  possible  the  acknowledgment 
that  supernatural  influences  were  active  as  path- 
ological factors.  Various  as  the  principles  of 
the  countless  medical  schools  may  have  been, 
they  were  all  united  in  assuming  as  the  starting- 
point  of  their  speculations  some  material  process 
of  the  body  itself,  in  accordance  with  which  they 
applied  their  therapeutic  agencies. 

186 


Sometimes,  it  is  true,  it  would  seem  as  tho 
medicine,  under  some  circumstances,  had  recourse 
to  supernatural  factors  in  explaining  various 
phenomena  of  physiological  as  well  as  patholog- 
ical conditions;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  primeval 
pueuma- doctrine,  or  in  those  conceptions  which 
attribute  to  a  mental  or  psychical  principle  a  far- 
reaching  influence  upon  the  performance  of  all 
bodily  functions.  Upon  closer  investigation, 
however,  we  shall  find  that  the  pneuma,  or  spirit, 
the  soul,  or  whatever  else  the  mysterious  main- 
spring of  all  phenomena  of  life  may  be  called, 
was  by  no  means  conceived  of  by  medicine  as 
immaterial  or  supernatural.  On  the  contrary! 
Medicine,  as  often  as  it  required  a  spiritual  some- 
thing to  explain  the  manifestations  of  the  body, 
has  always  regarded  this  unknown  quantity  as 
thoroughly  substantial.  It  has  not,  indeed,  been 
possible  to  determine  more  precisely  the  material 
nature  of  this  great  unknown,  altho  such  at- 
tempts are  by  no  means  wanting  in  Democritus, 
Galen,  and  others;  still  it  was  always  considered 
a  corporeal  thing.  Supernatural  qualities  were 
ascribed  to  it  only  after  death,  but  so  long  as  the 
soul  animated  the  body,  united  with  the  latter, 
it  was  a  terrestrial  being,  and  as  such  obeyed 
the  laws  of  terrestrial  substance.  It  was  possible 
for  medical  science,  therefore,  to  reckon  with  it 

187 


SUPERSTITION  IX  MEDICINE 

in  the  explanation  of  pathological  processes 
without  necessarily  expecting  a  reproach  that 
supernatural  agencies  were  called  in  for  assist- 
ance. 

Medicine,  therefore,  altho  it  has  traveled  the 
same  diagnostico-theoretical  road  as  natural 
science,  has  not,  like  the  latter,  directly  pro- 
duced superstition.  It  is  true,  it  has  called  forth 
innumerable  erroneous  hypotheses.  But  a  wrong 
hypothesis,  altho  it  may  be  nonsensical  to  the 
utmost  and  give  rise  to  the  most  serious  practical 
consequences,  is  by  no  means  superstition ;  for 
both  error  and  superstition — so  far  as  it  is  a 
question  of  medical  matters — are  two  radically 
different  conceptions,  because  the  former  con- 
cerns itself  only  with  natural,  the  latter  with 
supernatural  factors. 

Yet  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  the  dissemi- 
nation of  an  intellectual  principle  can  be  fur- 
thered and  promoted  without  overt  advocacy  of 
the  principle  itself,  and  this  was  the  relation  that 
existed  for  thousands  of  years  between  medicine 
and  superstition;  for  we  learn  from  this  inves- 
tigation that  the  representatives  of  medicine  were 
too  often  ready  to  admit  all  kinds  of  supersti- 
tious views  into  medicine.  Whenever  religion, 
philosophy,  and  natural  science  have  seriously 
attempted  to  influence  medicine  in  a  manner 

188 


FALSE  MEDICAL  THEOEY 

promoting  superstition,  medical  science  yielded 
to  these  attempts,  and  this  is  the  only  reproach 
which  can  be  justly  laid  at  the  door  of  our 
science. 

However,  this  reproach  is  mitigated  if  we 
consider  that  medicine  did  not  accord  a  home  to 
superstition  of  its  own  free  will,  or  even  from  a 
predilection  for  the  heresies  of  other  disciples, 
but  it  did  so  under  compulsion;  for  the  relig- 
ious, the  philosophical,  the  physical  views  which 
forced  the  entrance  of  superstition  into  medical 
science  were  almost  always  the  views  of  a  for- 
midable party.  It  is  a  fact  sufficiently  demon- 
strated by  history  that  powerful  and  far-reaching 
predilections  of  the  popular  mind  resistlessly 
hurry  along  whatever  is  in  their  path.  Such 
mental  currents  are  the  products  of  their  period; 
they  are  the  immediate  result  of  the  general 
sentiment  and  feeling  of  their  time,  and  for  this 
very  reason  they  successfully  overcome  resistance. 
The  opinion  of  a  single  individual  may  raise  a 
protest  against  the  spirit  of  the  age,  but  this 
resistance  is  always  bound  to  be  in  vain.  The 
opinion  of  a  single  individual,  even  if  it  actually 
represents  the  truth,  is  absolutely  powerless  to 
resist  the  spirit  of  the  age  which,  with  elemental 
force,  compels  obedience.  Therefore,  the  cou- 
rageous, truth-seeking  resistance  which  was 

189 


SUPERSTITION  IK  MEDICINE 

offered  to  the  heresies  of  Medicina  Astrologica  by 
Pico  of  Mirandola  and  Girolamo  Fracastori  was 
bound  to  be  futile,  because  astrology  was  a  genu- 
ine child  of  its  time,  and  therefore  held  irre- 
sistible sway  over  thought  and  sentiment. 

If  religion  and  philosophy  so  often  interfered 
with  the  development  of  medicine,  this  was  only 
possible  because  the  general  tendency  of  the  con- 
temporary mind  was  thoroughly  absorbed  in  this 
or  that  religious  or  philosophical  idea.  For  each 
domain  of  human  activity  must  needs  be  a  mere 
reflection  of  the  tendency  which  guides  the  mind 
of  its  period.  This  is  a  law  which,  with  iron 
force,  dominates  the  development  of  culture. 
Superstition  in  medicine,  therefore,  was  bound 
to  flourish'  and  thrive  whenever  it  harmonized 
with  the  spirit  of  the  age. 

This  law,  tho  it  may  have  checked  the  de- 
velopment of  our  science,  nevertheless  holds  out 
the  certain  promise  of  a  period,  the  intellectual 
power  of  which  will  thoroughly  clear  away  all 
relics  of  superstition,  which,  still  persisting  in 
the  minds  of  the  many,  drives  them  to  the  faith - 
curist  and  to  the  quack. 


190 


THE  history  of  medicine  is  conjoined  with  the 
evolution  of  theology  to  an  extent  which  makes 
them  almost  inseparable,  and  this  may  best  be 
seen  from  a  study  of  the  management  of  the  in- 
sane, which  is  a  continuous  record  of  cruelty 
based  upon  medico-theological  superstition.  Per- 
haps the  most  heartrending  chapter  of  imphilo- 
sophical  theology  teems  with  the  narration  of 
thousands  of  unfortunate  beings  murdered,  tor- 
tured, and  mishandled  by  the  finesse  in  the 
interpretation  of  Biblical  texts.  The  greatest 
triumph  of  modern  medicine  has  consisted  in 
unfettering  the  views  of  effete  centuries,  born  of 
superstition  and  misconception,  and  in  placing 
the  treatment  of  the  insane  upon  a  humane, 
often  even  a  curative,  plane.  As  other  afflic- 
tions of  humanity  were  attributed  to  the  agency 
of  evil  spirits,  this  was  particularly  the  case  with 
insanity;  for  if  the  evil  one  found  it  an  easy 
task  to  control  the  corporeal  acts  of  humanity, 
his  power  over  the  mental  functions  of  the 
person  afflicted  was  even  greater.  Hence,  it 

191 


SUPERSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

was  not  person  the  who  acted,  but  the  evil  spirit 
in  him.  Thus,  the  devil  and  his  minions  were 
the  specific  pathogenic  agents. 

This  conception  was  not  universal,  for  history 
shows  us  that  clear  thinkers,  far  in  advance  of 
their  times,  had  an  almost  correct  view  of  the 
nature  of  insanity — namely,  that  it  was  due  to 
an  affection  of  the  mind.  Among  such  men 
were  Hippocrates,  Aretseus,  Soranus,  Galen, 
Aurelianus,  etc.,  and  some  of  the  Mohammedan 
physicians.  These  apostles  of  science  taught 
that  insanity  was  a  disease  of  the  brain,  and  the 
most  efficient  remedy,  mild,  palliative  treat- 
ment. 

The  belief  which  had  flourished  in  most  of 
the  Oriental  religions  from  remote  antiquity, 
that  the  power  of  evil  demons  was  the  active 
cause  of  disease,  particularly  that  lunacy  was 
due  to  diabolic  possession,  became  rooted  in  the 
early  Christian  Church  and  flourished  for  eigh- 
teen centuries,  each  leaf  of  this  malignant  plant 
representing  countless  unfortunates  sacrificed  to 
superstition.  Later  it  was  thought  that  the 
moon  had  a  direct  influence  upon  perturbation 
of  the  mind;  hence,  the  term  "lunacy"  devel- 
oped. 

These  doctrines  gained  special  credence  in  the 
first  centuries  after  Christ  by  the  dissemination 

192 


MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION  AND  INSANITY 

under  the  Church  Fathers  of  the  story  of  the 
miracles  which  they  claimed  had  been  performed 
by  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Did  not  the  Savior  cast 
out  devils?  Did  He  not  cure  madness?  The 
very  word  " epilepsy"  shows  by  its  derivation, 
liti\ri-fyi$  (to  seize  upon),  that  possession  was 
the  presumable  nature  of  the  malady. 

The  noble  work  accomplished  by  the  l '  pagan ' ' 
pioneer  alienists  was  discredited  or  forgotten, 
and  the  Church  originated  a  process  by  which 
the  possessed  were  to  be  treated.  This  method 
of  treatment  was  derived  purely  from  theologic 
sources,  tempered  with  sufficient  dogma.  At 
first  the  treatment  was  gentle,  in  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  the  great  physicians  of  antiq- 
uity, and  if  the  afflicted  one  was  not  violent  he 
was  permitted  to  attend  public  worship.  Sacred 
salves  and  holy  water,  the  breath  or  the  spittle 
of  the  officiating  priest,  the  touching  of  relics,  or 
a  visit  to  holy  places,  were  the  principal  thera- 
peutic agents  employed.  These  methods,  even 
if  they  did  no  good  (sometimes  merely  the  con- 
solation of  a  kind  word  from  the  priest  had  a 
beneficial  effect),  certainly  did  no  harm,  even 
tho  such  practises  were  factors  in  the  spread  of 
superstition. 

This  mild  form  of  treatment  did  not,  however, 
long  continue.      Soon  measures  were  directed 

193 


SUPERSTITION   IN  MEDICINE 

toward  driving  out  the  evil  spirit  from  the  pos- 
sessed. This  was  attempted  in  various  ways ; 
first,  by  exorcism,  in  the  period  of  Justin  Martyr, 
and  continued  up  to  almost  recent  times  (see 
Lecky,  "  History  of  European  Morals").  "From 
the  time  of  Justin  Martyr  for  about  two  centu- 
ries, there  is,  I  believe,  not  a  single  Christian 
writer  who  does  not  solemnly  and  explicitly  as- 
sert the  reality  and  frequent  employment  of  this 
power." 

One  of  the  chief  attributes  of  the  devil  was 
pride,  therefore  attempts  were  made  by  exorcism 
to  pierce  this  vulnerable  point  in  the  armor  of 
the  evil  one,  and  the  foulest,  vilest  epithets  were 
used  to  attain  this  end.  It  is  impossible  to-day 
to  print  these  expressions,  even  in  a  work  of 
scientific  character,  and  it  is  better,  perhaps,  to 
refer  such  as  are  especially  interested  in  them  to 
the  Manuale  Benedictionum,  by  the  Bishop  of  Pas- 
sau,  published  in  1849,  and  similar  works.  Ad- 
juvants to  this  form  of  treatment  consisted  in 
"  frightening  "  the  devil  by  long  words,  difficult 
to  pronounce,  commonly  derived  from  Oriental 
languages,  by  the  administration  of  malodorous 
and  filthy  "  drugs,"  and  similar  practises. 

It  was  claimed  that  many  devils  were  thus 
driven  out,  and  the  annals  of  the  Church  con- 
tain numerous  records  of  persons  cured  in  this 

194 


MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION  AND  INSANITY 

manner.  "The  Jesuit  Fathers  at  Vienna,  in 
1583,  glorified  in  the  fact  that  in  such  a  contest 
they  had  cast  out  twelve  thousand,  six  hundred 
and  fifty-two  living  devils"  (White).  The 
prevalence  of  these  ideas  to  such  a  degree  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  may  be  noted  from  the  fact 
that,  in  the  churches  themselves,  such  scenes  are 
carved  in  stone  and  depicted  on  canvas.  Medie- 
val drama  teemed  with  similar  conceptions,  and 
this  condition  of  affairs  prevailed  for  over  one 
thousand  years,  unfortunately  not  in  this  harm- 
less manner,  but  supplemented  by  great  cruelty, 
which  forms,  perhaps,  the  most  terrible  chapter 
in  the  history  of  medical  superstition. 

The  subtleties  of  theologic  interpretation  soon 
evolved  a  more  comprehensive  method  of  deal- 
ing with  the  "possessor"  and  the  possessed. 
As  an  appeal  to  pride  was  ineffectual  and  nox- 
ious drugs  unavailing,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
whip  the  devil  out,  or  the  unfortunate  individuals 
were  imprisoned,  and  as  a  refinement  of  this 
treatment  they  were  even  tortured.  Thus  the 
jailer  for  a  long  time  played  the  part  of  a  special- 
ist in  lunacy,  with  the  clergy  in  consultation. 
Places  in  which  the  insane  were  confined  were 
known  as  "fool  towers"  and  "witch  towers." 

This  state  of  things  was  not  altered  with  the 
dawn  of  the  Reformation.  The  writings  of 

195 


Luther  conclusively  show  his  ideas  in  regard  to 
possession  and  witchcraft,  and  these  views  under 
Calvin  reached  enormous  development.  Even 
Cotton  Mather,  in  many  respects  far  in  advance 
of  his  times,  and  who  himself  had  known  perse- 
cution, was  not  emancipated  from  these  delusions, 
and  Salem  has  many  a  story  to  tell  of  possession 
and  witch-baiting.  It  is  true  we  may  quite 
properly  consider  these  views  as  the  thought  of 
the  times,  but,  in  many  other  respects,  Luther, 
Calvin,  and  Mather  were  in  advance  of  their 
period,  and,  therefore,  a  justification  for  their 
actions  is  not  quite  apparent.  Marcus  Aurelius 
also  was  much  superior  to  his  age,  yet  was 
grateful  to  his  teachers  that  they  taught  him  to 
disregard  superstition  in  all  its  various  forms. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  conditions  of  this  kind 
frequently  led  to  epidemics — if  not  of  actual  in- 
sanity, at  least  to  hysteria — which  not  rarely 
developed  in  cities,  nunneries,  and  manasteries; 
thus  the  epidemics  in  Erfurt  in  1237,  in  the 
Rhine  countries  in  1374,  and  many  others  (see 
Hirsch). 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  while  such  views 
and  practises  prevailed  in  the  Christian  Church, 
the  followers  of  Mohammed  not  only  held  differ- 
ent views,  but  adopted  a  mode  of  treatment  of 
the  insane  which  laid  the  foundation  of  modern 

196 


therapeutics  in  diseases  of  the  mind.  In  the 
twelfth  century,  in  Bagdad,  a  palace  called  the 
"Home  of  Mercy"  was  built,  in  which  the 
insane  were  confined,  examined  every  month, 
and  released  as  soon  as  they  had  recovered.  An 
asylum  in  Cairo  was  founded  in  1304,  while  the 
first  Christian  asylum  expressly  for  the  mad  is 
noted  in  1409  (Lecky). 

But  science  fought  its  way  through  the  barriers 
of  ignorance,  misdirected  zeal,  and  superstition. 
Altho  there  were  physicians  and  " magicians," 
who  conformed  to  the  views  of  the  Church,  the 
seed  sown  by  the  earlier  schools  of  medicine 
slowly  but  surely  began  to  put  forth  shoots, 
and  the  result  was  a  tree  of  knowledge,  the  fruit 
of  which  may  be  observed  in  every  modern  in- 
sane asylum  of  the  world,  where  the  unfortunate 
sufterer  is  treated  with  kindness  and  skill,  which, 
fortunately,  often  results  in  cure. 

Scientific  reason  frequently  rebelled  against 
the  " insane  superstition,"  at  first  mildly,  but 
constantly  increasing  in  strength,  until  an  effec- 
tual protest  was  finally  raised  by  John  Weir,  of 
Cleves,  who  was  soon  followed  by  Michel  de  Mon- 
taigne. And  now  a  battle  royal  was  waged  be- 
tween the  adherents  of  theology  and  the  disciples 
of  the  "  resurrected "  truth,  and  once  more  in 
the  history  of  the  world  was  demonstrated  the 

197 


SUPEBSTITION  IN  MEDICINE 

correctness  of  the  saying,  that  ' '  truth  crushed  to 
earth  shall  rise  again."  All  over  the  world  the 
warfare  was  carried,  and  at  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  new  champions  arose — Jean  Bap- 
tiste  Pinel  in  France,  and  William  Tuke  in 
England.  Their  followers  are  legion,  and  in  the 
book  of  life,  in  letters  of  gold,  many  a  name  has 
been  written  of  those  who  trod  in  the  footsteps 
of  these  pioneers.  Theology  no  longer  interferes 
in  the  treatment  of  the  insane  ;  in  fact,  it  would 
be  manifestly  unjust  not  to  mention  that  many 
Christian  theologians  subsequently  joined  in  the 
noble  work  of  lunacy  reform,  and  aided  progress 
greatly. 

How  great  this  progress  in  the  treatment  of 
the  insane  can  best  be  appreciated  by  some  of  the 
older  physicians  in  practise  to-day.  Who  does 
not  remember  the  chains,  the  strait-jacket,  the 
dark  locked  cells  of  the  insane  asylum  ?  These 
conditions  existed  not  very  many  years  ago,  and 
altho  the  novels  of  Charles  Eeade  are  no  doubt 
greatly  exaggerated  in  regard  to  the  conditions 
he  portrayed  in  insane  asylums,  yet  more  than  a 
grain  of  truth  is  probably  contained  in  them. 
The  books  did  much  to  bring  about  reforms  in 
England  and  elsewhere. 

Modern  alienists  have  wrought  wonders  ;  their 
successful  operations  are  not  published  in  the 

198 


MEDICAL  SUPERSTITION  AND  INSANITY 

daily  press,  but  any  visitor  who  knows  what  an 
insane  asylum  was  fifty  years  ago,  and  who  spends 
a  few  hours  in  a  modern  hospital  for  the  treat- 
ment of  lunatics,  will  observe  what  appears  but 
little  short  of  the  miraculous.  Imagine  two  thou- 
sand or  more  insane  persons  dining  in  a  large 
hall,  upon  the  table  a  tablecloth,  and  the  insane 
using  knife  and  fork  in  a  decorous  manner,  and 
when  the  visitor  is  told  that  the  "  violent  ward  " 
is  also  present,  and  is  asked  to  single  these  out 
from  among  the  many,  and  fails  (as  he  invaria- 
bly does),  the  results  attained  by  science,  above 
all  other  measures,  are  strikingly  apparent. 


199 


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205 


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